Dreams to come true
by Kianah
Summary: Lara and Alex are at an exhibition when someone steals something that's dear to Lara and a friend of her father. Together with Alex she goes looking for the thiefs which results in quite some surprises.
1. Default Chapter

_Disclaimer: I don't own Lara, Alex, Hillary, Bryce, Powell and all the other characters from the tomb raider movies._

_Hi there this story is a sequel to Queen Murtado. You don't have to read it first, but if you want to know how Lara and Alex came together, I'll suggest you do. _

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Chapter one, Stolen.

The doorbell was ringing for the third time already. Hillary kept screaming he was on his way, only he couldn't help he had to come from the other side of the manor. Still he paced on a normal speed to the door. He opened it and wasn't surprised to see who kept ringing the bell.

"I heard you the first time Mr West." Hillary said as he motioned Alex to walk inside.

"If Lara just gives me the keys to the manor I don't have to ring the doorbell." He answered sarcastic.

Hillary showed him a wrinkled smile "Lara is almost ready." He said.

But the American's eyes already fell to the stairway behind Hillary. The butler turned to see what the reason for this was, his mouth fell wide open. Lara was the reason for this. She was walking downstairs, wearing an elegantly beige dress. The dress had no sleeves and an opening on both sides that ended at her knees. With her long brown hair resting on her back and shoulders, the Brit gave Alex and Hillary enough reason to gape at her with their mouths wide open.

"I think I might start to like you Mr West." Hillary said.

Without bothering to move his eyes from Lara the yank answered "Really? And why is that?"

"Because you are the reason Lara starts to wear dresses."

Now Alex did move his eyes from Lara and aimed a questionable eyebrow at the butler. Hillary raised his shoulders and smiled. They looked back and saw Lara standing in front of them.

"Please close you're mouth gentlemen, before you slobber over you're suits."

Her left hand reached for Hillary's chin while her right hand moved to Alex's chin, at the same time she moved both her hands up to close their mouths, a smile moved up at the humoristic view in front of her.

"I hope you can keep you're mouth closed once we're at the exhibition Alex."

Alex manned himself "don't worry Lara, it's just been a while since the last time I saw you in a dress." He held out his arm, waiting for Lara to accept it so he could lead her to his car, just like a real lord would do for a lady.

Lara moved her eyebrow up, she reached for his arm and together they left the manor.

"I don't know how I let you talk me into this Alex." Lara said as they were on their way to the exhibition.

"Come on Lara, you'll love it, it's one of the most beautiful Chinese historical exhibitions there is."

Lara chuckled "Alex." She said "I was talking about the dress."

A large smile formed itself on his face "It's a formal exhibition, you can't just show up in the leather pants and tank top you always wear and besides, you look much better like this, can't you raid tombs in that dress."

Alex received a jog in his side, it made him laugh. He couldn't be a happier man then he is now. Finally after all those years he is with the one woman he always wanted to be with. He could not ignore that it was mostly his own doing that had kept them separated all that time but sometimes he had the feeling Lara was walking away from love. Not anymore, it's been six months since their adventure with Jack Lewis and in those six months their bound has grown. He believes that it has become unbreakable but he also knows that one can never be certain about that when you're having a relationship with Lara Croft.

Alex moved his car in the parking garage looking for a free spot. It was already busy at the exhibition and difficult for the American to find a place to park. But once he managed to park the car he and Lara walked to the entrance. A board with the words Largest Chinese Exhibition ever, rested just above the entrance. It was decorated with lights and the flag of China. They showed their invitation and paced inside the large building. They had two options, go left to the restaurant, go right to the exhibition. Off course the two tomb raiders choose for the exhibition, both grabbing a glass of champagne on their way in.

It was crowded inside, every little artifact was surrounded by groups of people. Lara actually was here for one reason, the three rings of the Ming empire. She could remember her father telling her stories about the Ming Empire. It was in the year 300 when this empire was at its best. There were many wars inside of China but the Ming Empire stayed neutral and did not mix them into the war. It was a prosperous city where everyone was able to live peaceful. There were no weapons allowed in the empire anyone who did have weapons was banned out of the Empire.

But one day the war made a dramatic change, two rival Generals, Xiao and Luau had made a pact and joined forces to take over the Ming Empire. The news was spreading fast inside the Empire and Emperor Ming hired a scientist to invent the perfect weapon to protect them from the two Generals and their army. The scientist, whose name was never known, created three rings, a black one, a white one and a blue one. He offered Emperor Ming the rings and told him how to use it. The white ring could be used to heal the wounded and the dead that might fall during the war. The black ring gave him powers to fight of his enemies and the blue ring gave him immortality.

What the scientist didn't tell him was that the three rings were more powerful then the Emperor could handle, they won the war but the Emperor almost died because of the power of the rings. To make sure no man or woman would ever use the rings again, he ordered to have them destroyed, but the scientist told him the rings couldn't be destroyed. That's when the Emperor decided to have them hidden in a secret location. He ordered ten men to do this. After these men had built the temple, they were forced to end their own lives, just so that not a single soul would ever find out the location of the rings. But one of the ten men had written a diary and hid it somewhere outside the temple. He thought that such an invention must not be forgotten and hoped that someone might find his life story about the three rings.

Ming himself had brought an end to the scientist's life, after that the Empire continued with its prosperous existence until time and nature ravaged the beautiful Empire. About twenty years ago her father had found the diary, but when her father died the research about the three rings was stopped. Until three months ago when an old friend of her father, Dr Wagner, had found the location of the temple. He started a dig and he successfully found the rings just a few weeks ago. Dr Wagner had called her immediately because he believed she deserved to know first. They were all in one piece only a bit dusty, that's what he told her but Lara wouldn't be herself if she couldn't see it with her own eyes, heads the reason why she is in the exhibition.

"Earth to Lara."

She was distracted when Alex was waving his hand in front of her eyes, trying to get her attention. She grabbed his hand from the air and pulled it down. A male voice sounded from behind them.

"Lara!" The tomb raider turned and looked straight at Dr. Wagner "you look wonderful." He said. They hugged shortly, it's been quite some time since they last seen each other.

"You don't look so bad you're self Dr Wagner." For a man of his age he surely didn't look bad at all. Except for the grey stains in his hair the wrinkles in his face.

"Please Lara, I am nothing but an old archaeologist, you on the other hand are looking more like you're mother every day."

They shared the moment and laughed together, this was disturbed when Alex cleared his throat to get some attention.

"Oh, Dr Wagner this is Alex West."

The two men shake hands "It's nice to meet you Dr Wagner, I've heard interesting stories about you."

"I didn't know America was aware of my specialties in archaeology."

Alex laughed "Me neither but I heard the stories from Lara."

The three started laughing, then Dr Wagner motioned them to follow him "come Lara, Alex, let me show you the rings."

They walked through crowd and entered a room less crowded. Lara could already see them, there they were in the center of the room, the three rings in a much better condition then Dr Wagner had told her. They were shining like they were just forged.

"They are beautiful doctor." Lara said moving her hand over the glass that was protecting the rings. The diary of one of the soldiers was resting behind the same glass surroundings.

"I know, I wish you're father was here to see them."

"He would have loved to see them, and he probably would have found them if Powell..." Lara changed the subject quickly "Did you find anything else during the dig?"

"No...we did not find anything else." He said but Lara noticed a small tremble in his voice.

"This must be one of the greatest founds in archaeological history." Alex said as he finally moved his eyes from the rings.

"I'm afraid not Alex, the rings are unknown by most of the archaeologists, there are only few who know about their existence, heads the low attention of the crowd."

It was a surprising answer for Alex. He could not see how something beautiful like that was hardly known among archaeologists. Come to think of it, if Lara hadn't told him about it he never knew about the rings either.

"The reason why no one knew about it was because Emperor Ming had hid his secret this good. If this one soldier hadn't left his diary outside the temple, I think no one would ever found out about the rings." Dr Wagner looked at his watch "let's go to the restaurant and let me offer you two something to drink."

"Good idea, my glass is empty anyway," Alex said "you coming Lara?"

But Lara wasn't listening anymore, she kept staring at the three rings.

"Lara?" Alex said again only this time a little louder.

Lara looked up and smiled "yes, I'd love something to drink." She said and followed her two friends to the restaurant. "Dr Wagner, can I come back tomorrow to have a much more closer look at the rings and perhaps at the diary?"

During the walk the doctor placed his hand on her shoulder "off course my dear, come to my office tomorrow evening." They entered the restaurant "you two sit down, while I bring you some wine."

Lara and Alex looked for an empty table and seated themselves. The yank wrapped his arm around Lara and kissed her softly at her cheek, it resulted in a questionable look from Lara.

"What was that for?" she asked.

"When I see you looking at those rings, you're thinking about you're father, I just want to comfort you."

She sighed "I just imagine how he would have reacted if he'd seen this. It was a part of his life work and it makes me sad knowing he will never be able to see it."

Again Alex kissed her cheek at the same moment Dr Wagner appeared, with the wine he promised. Alex pulled back his kiss but kept his arm around Lara.

"If you want to, you can help us with the translation of the diary, we've managed to translate over more then fifty percent, but perhaps with the help of Bryce the translation could go faster."

Lara took a sip from her wine "I think Bryce wouldn't mind, but I'll ask him anyway."

"You've found the book twenty years ago and still it's not completely translated?" Alex asked moving his glass towards his lips.

"Alex," Lara replied "the language in the diary is almost two thousand years old, it's not that easy to translate it."

Suddenly, just when Alex wanted to reply, all lights went of. In a flash it was completely dark inside, only the moonlight coming from the windows was visible. There was the sound of breaking glass and an alarm ringing. Lara jumped up as she knew where the sounds were coming from. People started screaming, running for the exit. Lights went on again and Lara immediately hurried over to the place the alarm was coming from.

What she feared was right, Lara had reached the crime scene. The three rings and the diary were stolen. Someone had broken the glass and took the artifacts. But that someone still had to be somewhere. Lara glanced around, looking for a trace that could lead her to the thief. She looked up, to her left, to her right. Still no sign of the burglar. Who ever had stolen the rings and diary was someone who knew to do his job. In only a minute he managed to steal the artifacts and escape without being noticed.

"Lara, are you alright."

It was Alex, he was close behind her.

"No, not really, someone stole the rings and the diary."

The disappointment clearly sounded in her voice. A comforting arm wrapped around her shoulder, Alex pulled her closer "I'm sorry Lara."

The young tomb raider sighed and pulled herself free from Alex. At the same moment Dr Wagner and some security guards entered, it was too late for that, the burglar is long gone.

"I'm sorry Dr Wagner someone stole the rings and the diary."

Lara could see the Doctor was fighting back his tears, she couldn't blame him. A whole life's work just vanished in a snap. It hurt her as well and why would anyone want to steal it. It's strange because such few people know about the artifacts.

"Let's call the police, they'll handle it from here." One of the security guards said.

Lara walked to the doctor "the police won't help you Dr Wagner, there is not a single lead to the killer."

The sad doctor found a place to sit down to think through all the events from the last ten minutes. It was more then the poor man could handle and Lara could see it. She kneeled down in front of him and got hold of his hands.

"Are you alright Dr Wagner?" a concerning tone left her mouth.

He sighed "A life's work, we worked so hard for it, you're father and I, now it is all gone." He aimed his disappointed eyes at those of Lara. "Who would do such a thing?"

"I don't know Dr Wagner, but I'll promise I'll get the rings and diary back."

"Lara dear, leave that to the police."

She stood back on her feet "They won't do anything, the thief didn't leave a single trace. They'll close the investigation in a week."

"Besides, Lara has someone the police don't." Alex said as he stepped next to Lara.

"Yes, I have Bryce."

Finally a smile was forming on Dr Wagner's face "thank you Lara."

"You're welcome doctor." She placed a soft kiss on the doctor's forehead and then left.

"You have any idea's who could have stolen the artifacts?" Alex asked on their way back to the manor.

"Not a clue, but Bryce can find out for us."

The American shrugged "It's amazing how that guy always manages to find another turn when the road seems to have a dead end."

The corners of Lara's mouth moved up "That's why he works for me." She said.

"I know, I know, Lady Lara Croft is only settled when she has the best."

"Off course, I have the best butler, I have the best tech and I have the best-"

"Lover?" Alex cut her off.

"No, I was going to say the best cars, but you're alright Alex."

She started laughing and Alex actually could see the humor behind her words as well.

"Well, I might be alright for you and you might have the best butler, tech and cars. But you are the best I have and there is no one who can take that away from me."

His warm eyes locked on those of Lara for a second before he turned the car and moved it on the property of Croft manor. They stepped out of the car, Lara looked for her keys and opened the door. Immediately she brought herself to a halt. She was startled, shocked. Right there, not even a meter in front of her was Hillary's body lying unconscious on the floor.

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_So what do all of you think about it? Tell me in a review!_


	2. Enemies from the past

**Cato, You think the first chapter had a cliffhanger, wait till you come at the end of this one, thnx for the review!**

**MJ-Skywalker, here's more and i am so glad u like my story, and i must keep saying that yours is just as good, no it's better, well enjoy the next chappie MJ!**

**Darlian, Yes this is the sequel. Glad u like the humor, I am trying to put more of that in the next few chapters. It took a time to come up with the rings, but im glad they turned out okay! Here's the next chapter Darlian, thnx again for youre review!**

**Freya, Yeh lara and alex are great arent they. They were made for each other that's what I think. Thnx for ur review and enjoy the next chapter.**

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Chapter two, Enemies from the past

It was a mess in Croft manor, walls were filled with bullet holes, drawers and closets were ripped open and the furniture was torn apart. Still Lara had no eyes for it, all her interest went to her two friends. Fortunately Bryce and Hillary were still alive, Hillary was only unconscious, but except for being unconscious Bryce also had been shot. It wasn't a lethal wound though, the bullet had landed in his left upper arm. Once she and Alex had placed Hillary and Bryce on a couch they started looking if anything was missing.

The first thing she did was looking up the secret room under the staircase. She had never known about its existence, until she heard the clock ticking that her father had hidden there. The clock with the all seeing eye hidden inside of it. A sigh left her mouth as she thought back to the adventure with the Illuminati. It all ended perfectly, especially when she killed Powell. The man that killed her father, if she had know earlier...well never mind. She knelt down and removed the wooden cover that prevented the secret room from being discovered.

Her hand reached to the right and turned the light switch upwards, a dim light gave just enough light for Lara to see a small metal box. A thin smile moved up when she saw it, happy to see that it was still at its place. She reached for the box and opened it. The stone was still in it, it was the stone from her last adventure. Together with Alex she managed to keep it from the grasp of a American criminal named Jack Lewis. It was the same adventure where she and Alex came back together again. The only good thing that happened during her adventure. The stone could not be destroyed, at least they haven't found a way to destroy it yet. Lara believes that there has to be a way to destroy the stone, but until she finds out it stays here, in her father's secret room.

"Lara!" it was Alex calling from the other side of the manor. "You better come and look at this."

He sounded rather serious, so Lara placed the box back in the secret room. She turned the light off and put the wooden plate back at its place. She stood back on her feet and hurried over to Alex, on her way to the American she glanced at her two friends for a moment, but they both were still unconscious. Then she arrived with Alex, he was crouched down beside a dead body. Now there's a miracle, Hillary managed to actually hit a man with his shotgun. She crawled down beside Alex, wondering what exactly the reason was for him to call her.

"Look at the tattoo in his neck, you won't be pleased to see it."

Her eyes fell upon a circle, decorated with ancient markings, but what scared her most was the triangle in the centre, an eye rested in the triangle something she had seen before.

"Bugger, the all seeing eye..."

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Alex asked her.

"The Illuminati." She said and Alex replied with a nod.

"Bugger." She repeated. "Let's go and see how Hillary and Bryce are doing."

Together they walked back to the two men and noticed Hillary had started to wake up. He was sitting straight up on the couch, rubbing the back of his neck. His eyes widening in surprise when he saw the couple standing in front of him.

"Lara, are you back already?"

It was almost funny, the manor had been ambushed and Hillary was only confused about the early arrival of Lara and Alex.

"Yes, there were some complications during the exhibition." Lara answered "But I see you two had your own problems to deal with."

Hillary glanced around the manor, memories of the last few moments in his life slowly entered his mind.

"It all went so fast, I was barely able to get my shotgun. They came out of nowhere, I think I had been able to hit one or two men and then everything went black, I didn't even knew where Bryce was."

He looked to the right, as his eyes landed on the tech he sighed "Dear God, is he alright?" the butler asked, sounding very concerned.

"He only got shot in his arm, he will be fine." Alex replied.

"Hillary, do you have any idea what they were looking for?"

"No, I don't have a clue."

"Well whatever it was, they didn't find it, right Lara?"

"Well, as far as I know, there is nothing missing."

"Uh, Lara, what were you saying about complications at the exhibition?" Hillary asked.

"Urg...me arm..."

Lara had to wait with her story about the exhibition, Bryce was waking up. His eyes opened and landed on those of Alex, it confused him, he looked further to the left and saw Lara. He frowned and tried to sit up straight, though Lara wouldn't let him and pushed him back down.

"Oh no, you don't, you stay down until Hillary managed to take the bullet out."

His eyes widened at Lara's words

"What, no, no, do you have any idea how much that hurts?" he asked a little panicked.

Her lips curled into a smile "Actually...yes I would happen to know how it feels." She said, thinking back at the last time Hillary was forced to remove a bullet from her body. It was the bullet Jonathan Reiss had shot in her lower arm. Actually she had been shot by Boris after that, but Anne had removed that bullet and she had done while Lara was still unconscious so Lara had never felt any of that.

"Very funny Lara." Bryce answered nervous.

"I'll go and get the first aid kit." Hillary said as he removed himself from his seat.

"Good, when you're done with Bryce, Alex and I will tell you what happened at the exhibition. But first I have to put on some other clothes, this dress is killing me."

"Oh, I'd love to help." Alex said smiling as he followed Lara to the stairs.

Lara glanced over her shoulder and smiled "down boy, Hillary needs you're help more then me, I can unzip the dress on my own."

The smile faded and a disappointed look formed on his face, he did not argue and knew he will have plenty of more chances to please the woman he loved.

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While Lara had been changing her clothes she could hear the pour tech screaming, she couldn't help but feel sorry for him. In all the years he had worked for her he had never been shot, this was the first time. Even so Bryce was a brave man, she couldn't imagine what to do without him. She will miss him as her tech but even more as her friend. 

Once she had changed and went back to Hillary, she and Alex explained the two men what had happened during the exhibition. They felt sorry for Lara to hear that the life work of her father had been stolen. However Lara had the idea she will soon find out who was behind it, why, because she noticed the good doctor was hiding something and the first thing she will do tomorrow is paying Dr Wagner a visit to hear him out.

"So what are we going to do now?" Alex asked "There is the robbery at the exhibition and there is the assault on the manor."

Lara leaned back into the couch she was in and folded her arms. "At first you and I are going to visit Dr Wagner tomorrow, he was hiding something and want to know what."

"So you noticed it too?" Alex said.

Lara nodded "yes, but now that the manor has been assaulted by the Illuminati I'm fearing the worst."

Alex narrowed his eyes "What? Do I get this right? You think that Dr Wagner is a member of the Illuminati, just as it had been with Mr Wilson?"

Lara nodded in reply.

"But that means that the robbery at the exhibition and the assault at the manor are,-"

Hillary was cut off by Lara "are linked together, yes that is what I think."

"Blimey, don't you think that is a little far sought Lara?" Bryce asked

"Perhaps, but we'll find out tomorrow." She replied to the tech.

"Well these guys certainly haven't forgotten about the Crofts." Alex said. "First you're father crosses their path and then you, they must be very pissed at you."

Lara's eyebrow moved up "Thank you Alex..." she replied sarcastic, just as Alex realized his words weren't really helping.

"Enough talking for today, why don't we all get some rest."

Bryce jumped up at Hillary's words "Good idea Hillary, good night everyone."

The tech walked away, to the front door to get to his trailer. Lara stood up from the couch but first placed a soft kiss on her butler's forehead.

"Good night Hilly." She said and then she too was on her way to get some sleep.

Alex cleared his throat "Milady, do I get permission to join you now?"

The young tomb raider turned to the yank and pulled up the thinnest of smiles "if you can be a good boy." She said teasingly.

"Oh, absolutely, you can count on me."

He hurried over to Lara's side and slashed his arm around her, their heads moved together for a kiss and then they walked to Lara's room.

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**Italy, Venice**

In his usual calm pace he walked through the hallway that leads to his office. He had no more interest in the boring artwork that decorated the hallway, seen it too many times. His hand reached for his jacked pocked to retrieve the key to his office, he opened the door and walked inside. His office is a place that is much better decorated then that boring hallway. He sighed and tossed his keys on the table next to the door. His jacked was hung over the chair behind his desk and then he dropped himself on to that same chair.

He was thinking back of today's mission, it had succeeded, partly. Just as he knew, Croft was at the exhibition and she could not prevent him from stealing the rings and the diary, that was the good part. The bad part was that his men had not been able to find the stone. He had been told they had looked everywhere, the entire manor had been put upside down and still they had not be able to locate the stone. Croft was good, she knew where to hid her important possessions, so if she does it might be time to go back to the manor again and ask her in person, or perhaps the good doctor knows something.

While he was drifting in his thoughts a knock sounded on the door. His eyes moved up to the door.

"Come in." he said.

It was Daniel, his assistant. A much better man then his former assistant, Pimms.

"Yes, Daniel what is it?" he asked as he locked his eyes on those of Daniel.

"Mr Powell, you're presence is requested."

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**Wow, cliffhanger! ( didn't I tell ya Cato, huh) Please review I'll promise not to wait too long to update! **


	3. Patience and impatience

_Chianna, Thank you for the review, but I have to bring this up. I am an absolute fan of you're Alex / Lara fic, it had been so long since you last updated it, you are still going to continue it are you? _

_Darlian, Hi good to hear from you again, surprisingly huh, to see him alive again. I can't tell you what powell wants with the stone I'm afraid but you will find out soon enough, enjoy the next chapter Darlian, but I know you will!_

_Cato, Yes Powell alive. Thnx for the review and I hope I hurried up fast enough for you ;)_

_MJ, Once again sorry for stealing you're idea. But then again I didn't steal it because I couldn't know you thought of it as well. Hurry with that story of yours so that we can read the sequel. As for now, enjoy my sequel!

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Chapter 3, Patience and Impatience

"We are happy to hear you are still confident about everything Mr Powell, but so you were with the triangle, why should we believe things are different now?" Mr Gareth asked Powel as he stood in the centre of the conference room.

"Because I underestimated lady Croft, but not this time, I know her capabilities Mr Gareth, her weaknesses and her strength, something I did not know when we were after the triangle. All I need is 48 hours."

Mrs King stood up "and that is all you will get Mr Powell, not a second more. You proved to us once, that you have the capabilities to complete a mission and that is the only reason you are allowed to lead this operation."

Powell bowed "Thank you Mrs King."

"You were lucky Mr Powell that we have been able to find you alive in the ruin city," Mr Gareth started again "And you were lucky our organisation possesses the best doctors, but fail, and we will personally let you suffer the consequences, understood?"

Again Powel bowed "Yes sir." Then he turned and exited the conference room.

On the other side of the door Daniel was waiting, curious about how his meeting has developed.

"How did it go?" he asked immediately.

"We have 48 hours Daniel, gather a team of ten men, we are going to London."

"Yes sir." He nodded and left.

It was time to visit Doctor Wagner and get the diary's translation from him. After that he will plan an attack on Croft manor again, or maybe he should do it on a more subtle way. One thing was for sure, he will show the order he is not some man who can prove he can complete missions, Powell is a man they should fear... and that, they will. Once he knows how to use the rings and when he has the stone they will learn who to listen to. But for now it was time to go to London and get the first part of the translation.

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Lara's eyes rolled from left to right as she was watching Dr Wagner walking impatiently from on side to another. She had asked him to make her a copy of the pages from the diary that he had already translated. That was what they were both waiting for now, but the good doctor seemed to be uncomfortable, as for Lara, well she is being her calm self. With her legs crossed and her arms folded she was sitting patiently on a chair waiting for the computer to finish its job. Since yesterday Lara had the feeling the doctor was hiding something, maybe now was a good moment to hear him out. 

"Dr Wagner, what is bothering you."

Promptly he stopped walking and looked at Lara.

"Hmm, oh, nothing dear. I just don't have the patience to wait this long."

An archaeologist with no patience at all? That was impossible, Lara had learned that in this line of business patience is one of the most important things, she couldn't believe a word the doctor had said.

"Really? You had patience enough to recover the rings and you are telling me that you can't wait thirty minutes for a copy." She paused shortly "Maybe you forget to remember that I am a Croft Dr Wagner and Crofts are certainly not easy to mislead. So please tell me what it is that is bothering you."

The doctor rubbed his hand over his wrinkled forehead and finally managed to grab a chair and sit down. He took a deep breath and then started talking.

"Lara, you might not like what I am going to tell you now." Were his first words.

The tomb raider just raised her brow and waited for the doctor to continue.

"When I found out about the location of the rings I wanted to find them as soon as possible, but the British museum didn't want to finance the dig, the believed the rings weren't valuable enough for them." He paused shortly to clear his throat. "I went looking for another organisation to finance my dig and that Lara had been the worst mistake of my life."

"Why doctor, what happened?" Lara asked.

"One night I received a phone call from a man. He said he knew what I was looking for and offered me a deal. He would finance the dig and get fifty percent of the found. Immediately I agreed and not even a week later we had started the dig. But the man didn't keep his promise, everything we found was taken from us. We had no choice, armed men searched us every time we exited the dig site. I soon started to see my dreams fall apart, especially when my crew found the rings. We didn't want the rings to fall into their hands as well so we set up a plan to lock him and his men into the dig site. It worked with the help of some dynamite, they were locked inside and we went back to England. We didn't hear anything from them again, until the day before the exhibition, I received a note."

He handed Lara the note, her eyes widened when she recognized the triangle that was drawn on it. "The Illuminati." The doctor nodded. Angrily Lara stood up "Why go to them doctor, you knew you could have asked me to finance you!"

The doctor too stood up, his eyes filled with guilt as he tried to reason with the tomb raider.

"Lara dear, I didn't know what to do, I was desperate...I..." the doctor almost collapsed to the floor, he managed to catch his fall by grabbing the desk next to him.

Lara hurried over to him to help him "I'm sorry doctor, I shouldn't have yelled at you."

Doctor Wagner smiled and tapped his hand on her shoulder.

"I can understand you're anger Lara, I know you have a history with them too. You were right Lara I should have come to you."

"Don't bother doctor, it happened, we can't turn back the time. But you can help me to get the rings and the diary back, do you remember the name of the man you made the deal with?"

Suddenly there was a loud bang, the window behind Lara crashed and then the doctor flew back and landed on the floor. Lara let out a yelp from surprise, she crawled down beside the doctor and dragged him away from the window. she placed her hand behind his head and moved him up a little.

"Doctor?" she tapped him on his cheek, he didn't respond on it.

That's when she realized the hot sticky liquid on her hand, as she pulled it away from his head her eyes widened in shock. Blood, there was nothing but blood on her hand.

"No..."

The shot in his head had instantly killed him. A tear escaped from her eye as Lara pulled him closer and wrapped her arm around him.

"I'm so sorry..."

She stayed like this for a while but she knew she was not safe. It hurt her to leave the doctor here but she had to get out of his company alive together with the disk. The disk was her only chance to get the rings back. Lara crawled to the computer and carefully watched the screen. Burn process complete, it said. Quickly she grabbed the disk and put in her backpack. Lara suddenly thought of something better. She removed the cover from the computer and disconnected the hard drive. The Illuminati must be here for the translation, if she would take the hard drive with her there will be nothing to find. It does lead them to her, but they already are after her so no need to worry about that now. The hard drive too was placed in her backpack and seconds later she exited the office.

A quick look to her left told her it was safe, she looked to her right and there was no one there too. As Lara turned right she cursed for not bringing her guns with her, you never know what happens. She choose to take the stairs, it was six floors down but there was this feeling inside of her that told Lara to take the stairs.

"Croft has to stay alive."

Abruptly Lara put herself to a hold, just as she was about to open the door to the stairway. Now instead of opening it, she pressed herself against the wall behind the door and waited for the thug to open it. He did, the door flew open and three men enter the hall. The last one was Lara's first victim. She had removed her throwing knife from her boot and tossed it in his back. The man collapsed but the other two turned toward Lara. One of them tried to shoot her, but just when he realized that his orders were to keep her alive Lara kicked it from his grasp with her left foot. At that same moment the other one tried to punch Lara, he wasn't fast enough, Lara got hold of his wrist and twisted his arm.

The man grunted in pain, Lara was happy enough to put him out of his misery. With her free hand she knocked him unconscious. Suddenly she felt a sharp pain on her left upper arm. The remaining man had cut her, he tried it again but this time Lara saw him coming. With a firm roundhouse kick she hit him hard across his cheek. He twirled around and when he landed on the floor there was no movement left in him.

"That was fun." She said as her lips curled up in a smile.

Quickly Lara opened the door to the stairway, voices came from upstairs and made Lara run downstairs even faster. Fifth floor, fourth floor, third floor. Lara stopped running again. She heard someone coming upstairs. Her eyes rolled down and when they landed on the tip of a rifle she acted immediately, Lara pushed herself over the handrail and made an 180 turn, the man didn't know what hit him as her right foot landed hard on his head. The man rolled down the stairs, Lara jumped over him and continued running downstairs. Second floor, first floor, yes she had made it.

She pushed the door open, actually surprising some more thugs. But there weren't any. Confusing, yes, but Lara didn't bother. As fast as she could she ran outside towards her Aston Martin. The sound of a helicopter made her turn around. It stood on the top of the building, but Lara also saw someone standing on the roof, she could not see who it was but she could see the person was looking at her as well. Lara turned back and stepped inside her car, she started the engine and immediately drove back to the manor.

* * *

Powell was looking down from the roof. He was looking down at a woman running to her car, it was Lara croft, he could not see it but he knew it. She stopped running, turned and looked up. This was fun to him, she had no idea who she was looking at. What a shock will it be for her when they will finally meet again. And that was sooner then she could imagine. Off course, because she expects never to see him again. 

Slowly he paced back to the helicopter, one man walked towards him. "She has,-" Powell held up his hand to the man.

"I know Mr Campbell, gather the men we are going back to Manchester."

Campbell nodded and went back inside to get all of his men. Powell stepped into the helicopter and joined Daniel.

"Have you ever had the pleasure to meet Lady Croft, Daniel?"

The man shakes his head "No sir, never."

"Ah," Powell smiled and leaned back "Well then you will tomorrow."

"Are we going to assault her manor again?"

This question made him think for a while, he had stormed her manor twice, one time it had been successful and one time he had failed.

"No Daniel, but I will inform you about it once we are in Manchester, I have a nice surprise waiting for Lady Croft and I want it to be absolutely perfect."

* * *

_**Yay, chapter three already, please review!**_


	4. Surpise!

_Darlian, Hello Darlian. At first I have two thanks, one thanks for reviewing again and the other is for updating ur story. Lara will await quite a surprise Darlian, just read the next chapter oka?_

_MJ, Oh yeh, sequel, sequel stamps her fist on the table oh sorry got a little bit carried away. Thanks again for the review MJ, me like a lot. Hope u didn't have to wait too long for the next chappie. I'm not as quick with updating as u are ya know. Anyway enjoy the nex chappie oka?_

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Chapter 4, Surprise.

Lara parked her Aston Martin in front of the manor and with a high pace she walked inside, towards Bryce. As usual he was sitting in the tech room, working on another one of his inventions. But he had to put that work aside, because Lara has much more important work for him.

"Bryce!" she yelled as she entered the tech room.

Bryce immediately looked up "Hi Lara, how did it go?" he asked.

The tomb raider failed to answer, all she did was removing a hard disk from her backpack to hand it over to the tech.

"I want you to connect this disk to one of our pc's, it contains a part of the translation of the diary but see if you can find anything else."

Questionable eyes were aimed at Lara "By the look at you're arm, something tells me things didn't go the way you wanted too."

Lara looked at her arm, then her eyes rolled back to Bryce.

"Not really no, Dr Wagner was murdered by the Illuminati. I managed to escape, but something tells me it all went a little too easy."

"I'm sorry Lara…"

"It's alright Bryce, but please hurry with the translation and increase the security, I have a feeling our friends from the Illuminati will visit us again."

"I'm on it." He answered and immediately he dove between the computer screens again.

There was no sign of Hillary or Alex yet, which means that they were still with Alex's contact. It made Lara decide to fresh herself up and to fix that wound on her arm. About an hour later she walked back to Bryce again. She saw him moving around from one computer to another, she could tell he was working hard on getting all that information from the hard disk.

"Bryce, are Hillary and Alex back yet?"

Through all the hard work he was doing Lara saw a nod in her direction and then he pointed to the library. And when Lara reached the library she saw Hillary and Alex searching through some books.

"Hello boys." She said and startled both of them.

"Lara, back already?" Hillary asked.

"Yes, things didn't go that well actually."

"What happened?" Alex asked on his turn.

A deep sigh left her mouth "Dr Wagner was killed, we were ambushed by the Illuminati, I managed to get away."

"I'm sorry Lara, I knew Dr Wagner meant a lot to you."

"It's alright Hilly." She said placing her hand on the butler's shoulder.

"At least you managed to escape" Alex said "That's the good part about it."

"No it's not, actually." Lara's reply confused the two men. "It all went a little too easy."

"You saying that they wanted you to escape?" Alex asked as he closed one of the books he was reading.

He received a nod in reply, Lara's eyes rolled to the book Alex was reading. Chinese mythology.

"How did things go with you're contact Alex?" she asked as she looked away from the book.

"Nothing, he knew absolutely nothing. No illegal art deals considering the stone or the rings and the diary."

Again the young tomb raider sighed "Then the only lead we have right now is the hard drive from Dr Wagner's computer at the museum…bugger."

"Lara!" Bryce suddenly yelled from the tech room.

Lara immediately hurried over to Bryce, Alex and Hillary close behind her.

"What is it Bryce."

"You will never believe what I just found."

"Try me." Lara added.

"Every word from the diary is on this hard drive, even the parts that aren't translated yet, except for one page."

Lara leaned forward, to get a closer look on the screen. Bryce pointed his finger on the screen where the missing page should be. The tomb raider frowned.

"Interesting…" was the only word she let out.

"Why would he hide a complete page from the diary?"

"Because, Alex, that page is important."

"Do you think he hid it somewhere in his office?" Hillary asked as he too peered over Bryce's shoulder to look at the monitor.

"Why bother to remove it from the computer and hide it into the same room, if that page is important he wouldn't do that." Lara had a good point with that. "I think he hid it somewhere in his apartment in London."

"Let me guess, you are going to look for it first thing tomorrow, right?"

"No Alex, _we_ are going to look for it tomorrow."

"That sounds as an even better plan, now if you will excuse me, I need a shower."

Instead of going back home, Alex walked upstairs.

"Alex you're shower is in London." Lara said sarcastic.

"I know, it's too far away, I'll just take yours." He smiled and walked upstairs.

"Men…" she said shaking her head and noticed that after her words Bryce and Hillary were looking at her. "What…?" she said.

"Do you actually believe you are allowed to say that as only woman in the manor?" Bryce said.

Lara smiled at him "Do you actually believe I care?" she said, waiting for a reply from the tech and when it stayed out she winked at him and walked out of the tech room.

She walked upstairs, entered her room and closed the door. When Lara turned around, Alex stood in front of her, only wearing his boxers. Smiling, she looked over his body and then locked her eyes on those of Alex.

"Hmm, this looks interesting."

The American smiled back at her, slowly pacing forward.

"Do you make a habit of glancing over my body?" he asked.

Lara too paced forward "What if I did?" she asked back as there was only a few inches between their faces.

"Then I have the right to look back." Alex slowly started to unbutton her blouse.

They started kissing, slowly Lara moved her hands over Alex's muscled chest as Alex pulled of Lara's blouse. As Lara's clothes were removed from her body, they made their way to Lara's bed.

Alex broke the kiss "I guess the shower can wait." And then they started kissing again.

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When Lara woke up the next morning, she felt the warmth of Alex's body connecting with hers. She turned around, noticing he was still sleeping. A small soft kiss was placed on his forehead, this woke him up and his blue eyes landed on hers. They both smiled at each other. Alex moved his hand up and removed a strain of hair from Lara's sight.

"I love you Lara Croft." He whispered softly.

"I love you too Mr West." She whispered back.

Then a knock on the door sounded and Hillary entered the room.

"Good morning love birds, would you care for some breakfast?"

"I'm starving." Alex said.

"We will be there in ten minutes Hilly." Lara added to Alex words.

The butler nodded and exited the room. Immediately Lara wrapped herself into the American's arms.

Ten minutes later they were both downstairs in the kitchen having breakfast. There was no sign of Bryce though. Lara looked at the clock, 11 AM, strange, normally he is already up at this our.

"Hilly, Where is Bryce?"

Hillary smiled "Sleeping…with his head on a keyboard."

Alex smirked "He's been working all night?"

"I would say he tried to work all night but fell asleep." Hillary replied.

"Hmm, Bryce takes his work too serious sometimes."

"No Alex, Bryce just wants to be the best." Lara said as she was on her way to leave the kitchen.

Alex followed her closely, once they reached the tech room the saw and heard Bryce sleeping. His snoring would almost make as much noise as the security system. A wick smile moved up on Lara's face, she moved her hand up and slammed it on the table, inches from Bryce's ears.

"Rachel!" he yelled as he jumped up from his sleep.

His eyes fell on Lara and he found out he was no longer sleeping.

"Lara, why did you have to do that? I was having such a good dream."

"You should sleep in you're bed Bryce, not on a keyboard. Did you find out anything?" Lara cut right to the case.

The tech rubbed his head "No nothing special yet." He said through a yawn.

Lara tapped him on the shoulder "Get a few more hours sleep, in you're real bed, fresh you're self up and then you can continue, Alex and I are going to find the missing page in Dr Wagner's apartment."

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The Aston Martin was parked in front the building where Dr Wagner used to life. Alex and Lara entered the building and took the elevator to the second floor. Dr Wagner's apartment was across the elevator, take three paces and you can open the door. Lara picked the lock and then they walked inside. It looked like a normal apartment. A kitchen to their left, a living room to in front of them, some paintings and photo's of the doctor with collogues, there was even one with Lara's father. On their right there were two doors, probably one to his bed room and one to the bad room. But on the other side of the living room there was another door, Lara guessed it leads to his office.

"Wow, he sure knows how to keep his house clean." Alex said as he already started to snoop around.

"I don't think he had time for that, he probably has a housekeeper." Lara replied, she was looking at the picture of her father and doctor Wagner. Lara knows that picture, her father had the same picture, it was taken on the day they found the diary.

"Found anything yet?" Alex asked.

"No, just a sad memory."

"Let's check out some of his rooms."

"Good idea Alex, you check his bed room, I'll look up his office."

Alex nodded and walked to the bed room as Lara opened the door to the other room. She closed it behind her. This room reminded her of the doctor's office in the museum. A cupboard, a desk with a chair. Suddenly Lara froze, the back of the chair was pointed in her direction, but it moved, slowly from the left to the right. As a reflex Lara immediately reached for a gun in her backpack, when she looked up again, the back of the chair was no longer in her sight. The person who was sitting on it had turned in Lara's direction. And although it sounds impossible, that person is no one else then Manfred Powel.

Lara's mouth almost dropped open in surprise, it really was him, impossible, she killed him. Brown eyes just kept looking at him, wondering if she might see it wrong. She did not see it wrong, his evil smile betrayed him. Then why not kill him again. Lara had her gun pointed at him and Powel was unarmed.

"Lady Croft, it's good to see you again."

Powel crossed his legs, placed his elbow's on his legs and rested his hands under his chin.

"Mr Powel…"

The smile on his face grew larger "Shocked?" he asked.

"No, surprised."

"Aren't you going to shoot me?"

Lara still had her gun pointed at Powel's head, but somehow she didn't want to shoot him yet.

"I haven't decided yet." Lara replied.

"Ah, why is that, wondering what might have happened to Mr West?"

Actually she hadn't thought of that yet, but now she did start to wonder what might have happened to him. Just then the door behind Lara flew open, Alex stumbled inside followed by a man Lara did not know. Immediately Lara pointed the gun at the man, the man on his turn, did not point his gun at Lara, but he pointed it at Alex. The moment Lara looked away from Powell, he removed a gun from the desk drawer and pointed it at Lara.

When Lara heard a click one eye looked at Powell, she saw him moving towards her, a gun at the ready. Her odds were slinking, she was forced to lower her gun.

"A very good decision Lady Croft." Powell said, now only two meters away from her. "Now drop it and kick it to me, along with you're backpack off course."

Lara did as she was told, at the same moment Alex got back on his feet, also very confused to see Powell standing there. Lara saw his nose was bleeding, she looked at the other man, he smiled at her.

"Hands up lady." The man said as he started roaming his hands over her body, looking for any more weapons. Except for the guns, Lara only had one knife with her, it was attached to her boots and the man found it.

When he finished searching Lara, the man stepped beside Powell, handing him the knife he had taken from her.

"Excellent, now that we are all here let's have a little chat. I think we have a lot to talk about."

_YAY, that's chapter four. Please review am I still doing oka?_


	5. The Aston Martin

_Hello me faithful readers, I am back again with another chapter!_

_Darlian, Thanks for the review once again Darlian. It's good to hear from one of me fathful reviewers again. All the ur questions will be answered in the following chappie. _

_MJ, I can't wait to see how Powell will show up in ur sequel. I am already glad ur sequel has showed up. And once again thanks fur ur lovely review. I like them a lot, you enjoy the next chappie now, oka!?_

_Chianna, Did u hang too long on the cliffy? Me have been rather busy so I'm sorry to keep you waiting. Thanks for the review and enjoy the next chapter._

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Chapter 5, the Aston Martin.

Lara still couldn't believe her eyes. How on earth was it possible that he was still alive? The tomb had collapsed, with Powell still inside. It takes a miracle to survive something like that. There was no doubt possible, the man in front of her was indeed Manfred Powell.

"It's wonderful to see you two are still together." The evil smile on his face was still visible. "You make such a lovely couple."

"Hmm…I'm glad we agree at that point." was Lara's only reply.

Powell started searching through Lara's bag. He would find nothing but another gun, her car keys and her driver's license.

"What do you want Powell?" Alex's words made the smile on his face grew larger.

"You never had a lot of patience, had you Mr West."

Lara answered for Alex "Please come to the point Mr Powell. You're games will have no effect on me or Alex."

"I think you already know what the point is Lara. You stole something from me and I would love to have it back."

Lara shrugged.

"I didn't steal anything from you Mr Powell, I only made sure something important will stay safe from you. You are the one who keeps stealing things."

Powell shrugged "And you are the one who's always in my way, but not for long." He said. "You see, I believe you have something in you're manor that can be of good use to me, I say let's leave the Doctor's apartment and go back to good old Croft manor."

"I don't think there will be anything to find Mr Powell, you couldn't find anything two days ago and I am sure you won't find anything today."

Powell and the man paced forward forcing Lara and Alex back into the living room.

"Off course, but now I can ask you to find it for me and if you refuse I might have to hurt someone."

By now they were standing in front of the elevator, ready to go downstairs, as a warning sign Powell pressed his gun against the back of Alex's head. Suddenly Lara remembered that Powell doesn't know about the missing page, then what was he here for except for Lara and Alex. He knew that Lara would come here but what made him think she would. The elevator door opened and Lara and Alex were pushed inside.

"Mr Powell," Alex started "Why are you struggling to get immortality, I would say that you already are, considering that you should be tying dead in the ruin city."

Alex saw Lara was making an escape plan and tried to distract Powell.

Powell started laughing "Mr West if I was already immortal you and Lady Croft would have been dead. I simply survived because the Illuminati had sent a rescue team and fortunately they found me. Good for me, but too bad for the two of you."

The elevator doors opened again and they were forced outside. Now while Powell was proudly explaining how he survived, Lara made her move, she pushed Powell backwards against the other man, they stumbled down. At the same moment she grabbed Alex by his arm and dragged him out of the elevator. They were almost outside when bullets flew around their heads, Powell and the other man were running after them.

"Great moment to escape Lara." Alex said as they stepped into the Aston Martin. Powell had taken her car keys, so Lara smashed the window and was forced to hotwire her own car. In split seconds the engine started, with the car alarm still peeping in their ears.

"Please Alex, I don't have time for you're comments now, there are people after us that want us dead."

With screeching tires Lara hurried the car on the road, but she could see Powell and the other men had already entered their car and were close behind them.

"Bugger, the bastard still has my guns." Lara said and the car alarm finally stopped beeping.

"Is that all you care about right now? You're guns?"

For a split second Lara looked at Alex and smiled at him. Then she looked back at the road and suddenly took a sharp turn left, almost hitting a bus. When she looked in the back mirror she saw Powell forced his way around the bus and was still on their tail.

"Alex, could you get my cell phone from the dashboard,-"

Lara didn't have to finish her sentence Alex was already reaching for it and handed it to Lara. With one had still on the wheel, Lara dialed to the manor. Bryce picked up.

"Hello Lara, what's up?"

"Bryce, Alex and I ran into a rather unpleasant surprise, so we didn't get much of a chance to search Doctor Wagner apartment."

"Really? What happened?"

Lara waited with the answer for that question as she suddenly had to push her breaks and turned right into a small alley. Too small for her left mirror to survive as it breaks of her car.

"Bloody hell," Lara cursed as she saw it happening. "Bryce I am not in the position to talk much, could you and Hilly go to the apartment and finish what Alex and I started?"

"Off course, we will go immediately, guess we will me later on in the manor then?"

"No, on any circumstances do not go back to the manor. You know what place to meet me."

"Okay, I'll see you there then, bye Lara."

"Bye." Lara hung up.

She tossed the phone to Alex but still kept one hand on the wheel.

"What are you up too Lara Croft?" Alex asked.

Lara kept her eyes on the road but smiled "Nothing special Alex, just something to lure Powell in the wrong direction."

Alex smiled back at her and suddenly cramped himself in his seat as he saw a taxi coming at them with high speed. Lara simply turned the wheel to the left and nearly evaded the car.

"What's wrong Alex you're not scared are you?"

And as she said this a bullet flew though the back window and went back out through the front.

"Bugger, their killing my car." Lara cursed.

More bullets followed, most of them scratching the paint from her Aston Martin and some gazed close by their heads.

"I'd prefer bullets above car crashes." Alex managed to say.

In the distance they could see traffic was forming, still Lara didn't slow down.

"Lara, you do see there's traffic up ahead."

"Yes I do Alex."

Suddenly Alex started laughing.

"What?" she said.

"I hope you give that same answer when I pop the question one day."

Lara on her turn smirked at the yank "Hold on tight Alex, this is going to be tricky."

Alex looked in front of him and saw the cars nearing for half a meter, then Lara suddenly turned the car to the left and drove it on the sidewalk, Alex was rather surprised by this.

"I never thought you would do this to you're Aston Martin." He said glancing in the back mirror and saw Powell did the same.

It wasn't busy with pedestrians on the sidewalk but when they ran in to one they immediately jumped aside. Alex had the feeling they were loosing speed.

"Why are we slowing down." He asked.

"Look to your right." Was Lara's reply.

And so Alex did, and he saw a small opening between the traffic, an opening for pedestrians to walk though but for the Aston Martin it was rather tight.

"You're joking right?" Lara locked her eyes on his and raised her eyebrow. "You're not joking, off course, you're the only woman stupid enough to do it."

Lara smirked, she looked in the back mirror and saw Powell gaining on her, he was driving much faster then she did and probably hadn't seen the small opening between the cars. And just as he was about to smash her car Lara turned the wheel to the right and hit the brakes. Powell did brake but he slides forward over the sidewalk. As Lara hits the gas pedal again, the Aston Martin scratches past the cars in traffic, some of them sound the horn but they only made the tomb raider laugh it was time to go to the old hospital.

"You think we lost him now?" Alex asked.

"Off course, you're not doubting me are you Mr West?"

"Me? No, if you let the Aston Martin go through so much to get away, I don't think there is anything to doubt about you're driving skills."

"Good, because if you do, I might have to convince you otherwise."

"Oh, on what way?" Alex asked.

Lara eyed him "No Alex, not on the way you like to think." She said.

"Ah, too bad, I might have reconsidered my opinion."

"It would be wise if you didn't."

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_**London, Dr Wagner's apartment.**_

"I wonder what happened to Lara and Alex." Bryce said as he and Hillary were searching through Doctor Wagner's apartment.

"The Illuminati happened to Lara." Hillary answered as he was searching through a drawer.

"The buggers don't know when to stop do they."

"I guess not Bryce, did you find anything yet?"

"No not yet, I'll check out his office." The tech replied.

"You do that, I'll go see if I can find anything in his bed room."

The two men separated. They kept searching but there was nothing they could find. And after two hours of searching they decided to stop.

"Well I think he has nothing in his apartment," Hillary said. "Let's go back to Lara and Alex."

"Great idea, hey can we take a detour and drive past the McDrive? All this searching made me hungry."

Hillary frowned "Can't you just stop thinking about food for the moment, we have been here for two hours I think Lara is wondering what's keeping so long, you can eat when we're back with Lara."

Bryce sighed "Okay, you win."

The two men left the apartment and took the jeep in the direction of the old hospital where they will meet up with Lara and Alex. After fifteen minutes of driving they saw Lara's Aston Martin parked at the side of the road.

"Uh oh…" Bryce murmured.

"What?" Hillary asked curious.

"Lara's Aston Martin doesn't look that good, yep someone is gonna pay for that."

Bryce made Hillary laugh "Let's go see how she is doing." He said as he parked the jeep behind the Aston Martin.

They exited the jeep and looked up at the old hospital, or what left of it. The two men walked inside and spotted Lara and Alex sitting on an old crate…kissing. Hillary cleared his throat to get their attention. It worked the couple immediately stopped kissing.

"Hello boys," Lara said as she jumped of the crate "find anything?"

"Nope, nothing." The tech replied.

"Hmm, that's interesting." Lara replied.

"It is?" Bryce said on his turn.

"Yes, I know it has to be there somewhere, he hid it so that Powell can't find it if he is looking for it."

"Excuse me?" Hillary said. "Did I hear you say Powell?"

"Yes Hillary you heard it perfectly well." Alex replied for Lara.

"Isn't that bugger dead?" Bryce said.

"I thought he was, but three hours ago he stood right in front of us pointing a gun at our faces."

"Then we have a serious problem." Hillary said.

"Yes we do Hilly. But let's go back to the manor."

"What?" Alex said confused. "That's the first place where Powell will look for us Lara."

"I know Alex, but I have the feeling that the hard drive from Dr Wagner's computer will tell us where the missing page is, I'm afraid we have no choice but to go back to the manor."

"Well let's not waste any more time then."

Alex was the first one to exit the hospital, but the rest followed close.

"Hey Lara, what happened to the Aston Martin?" Bryce asked.

"I'm afraid Powell forced me to get some scratches on it, don't worry Bryce, after this you can fix her up again."

"Yeh, yeh, leave it to me. When she's done she will be as good as new."

Lara laughed "I wouldn't expect less from you Bryce." She said and entered the car.

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_Yay, chapter five already. Please review!_


	6. Poisoning information

_uzk __), vcdgnht,t? I don't think i understand....._

_Miz Greanleaf, Thanks for the spelling tips, I never knew when to use your and you're, and now I finally know. Those other two I already knew, I always reread two times but I still seem to miss some grammar errors. Anyway, thnx for the review I really appreciate it, here's the next chapter I hope you like it._

_Darlian, Hi Darlian, good to hear from u once again. I always look forward to ur reviews, so please read the next chapter so you can review again and I can't wait to read it! _

_Chianna, you loved the yes I do part? Me too, it was funny huh? Anyway I'm glad you like the story and thank you for the review._

_MJ, I could never be upset with you, just do what you want to do. But please read and review the next chapter, if you don't I possibly might become upset with you after all…nah, just kidding. Thnx once again for the review MJ. _

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Chapter 6, Poisoning information.

**London, Powell's office**

"Are you sure this will work Mr Powell?" Daniel asked holding a plate with four cups of coffee.

"It's either me or them and I am not willing to die yet, so it will be them."

Powell opened the door to his office and saw that Mr Gareth and Mrs King were already waiting for him. Powell nodded at them and seated himself behind the same table. Daniel placed the cups in front of the three Illuminati members and saved the last cup for himself. He wanted to take a seat next to Powell but Powell moved his hand up

"Thank you Daniel, you can retire for the day." Powell said.

"Yes sir, thank you." Together with his coffee Daniel exited the office.

Once the door was closed behind him Mr Gareth started talking.

"Your 48 hours are over Mr Powell." He said. "And unless you have the stone, we have to undo the mistake we made by rescuing you from the ruin city."

Powell smirked, slowly spinning a spoon through his coffee. "I have the stone…" he lied, but hid the lie from his eyes.

"Good, hand it over to us immediately." Mrs King demanded.

"I'm afraid I don't have it with me."

Mrs King's eyes started to fill with anger.

"Pardon me? What do you mean Mr Powell?"

"I mean exactly what I'm saying Mrs King, I don't have the stone with me. I hid it somewhere safe, you can have it but first I want to be certain that my life will not end tonight, then I can have Daniel bring you the stone."

Mr Gareth lifted his coffee cup "If you have the stone like you say you have Mr Powell, your life will not be in danger." He brought his lips to the cup and took a good sip from his coffee.

"Well then, I'll have Daniel get the stone."

Powell walked to his desk and fast dialed to Daniel.

"Daniel, would you please bring us the stone?" Powell said.

"Yes sir." Daniel answered and Powell immediately disconnected.

He walked back to the table and seated himself again, noticing Mrs King taking a good sip from her coffee as well.

"I must say Powell," Mr Gareth started "I never thought you would manage to get the stone from Lady Croft, I'm impressed." He paused shortly as he cleared his throat. "I take it lady Croft is no longer alive?" again he cleared his throat.

Powell leaned back in his seat and smiled.

"Actually, lady Croft is still alive." He said.

"What? You managed to get the stone and you failed to kill lady Croft?"

Mrs King jumped from her seat from anger but immediately seated herself again as she felt something getting stuck in her throat. She started couching and so did Mr Gareth. At the same moment Daniel entered carrying a box. A wick smile was forming on Powell's face as he took the box from Gareth and removed a small bottle from it.

"Actually I haven't been completely honest with you."

He noticed Mr Gareth and Mrs King were suffocating.

"What did you do to us…?" Mrs King asked while she tried to breathe normal.

Powell placed the small bottle on the table and stood up from his seat.

"You see the stone is not in my possession yet," Powell stated, ignoring Mrs King's question. "Well not yet, it's still in Lady's Croft's possession."

He started pacing around the table, with his arms calmly behind his back and his eyes examining Mrs King and Mr Gareth. They had stopped couching, but blood was coming from their eyes, he could see they were in a lot of pain.

"And to get it, I have to get rid of a certain problem, then no one will be in my way of getting what I want."

Both of their bodies started shaking, blood continued dripping from their eyes and even from their mouth. They started to weaken, it would all be over soon.

"You won't….get away…with…this…" These were Gareth's last words before he died. It seemed Mrs King had already died a few seconds before him.

"I believe I already did." Powell said smiling. He moved to the table and grabbed the empty bottle. "A nasty way to die." He said, looking at the bottle and then tossed it on the floor.

"Daniel, make sure someone cleans this mess, I'm going home."

Daniel smiled "consider it done Mr Powell."

---

**Croft Manor**

Lara's eyes snapped open as she felt a hand rushing through her hair. Beautiful sea blue eyes and a smile came in her sight. She smiled at the man in front of her as he wrapped his arm around her.

"Good morning Lady Croft." Alex said as he pulled her closer.

"Good morning Mr West." She let her eyes fall on the clock behind Alex. "Bloody hell, it's already noon."

Immediately Lara jumped out of bed and started to get dressed.

"Lara, calm down."

"Alex, half the day is already wasted, I don't want to calm down, what if Bryce has already found something."

"Then he would have come to us immediately and you know that, now slow down, you're making me dizzy."

He grabbed Lara by her waist and pulled her back in bed. He jumped on top of her and prevents her from leaving the bed. Lara smiled and didn't try to break free from the American.

"You think that will stop me?" she asked.

Alex smirked and grabbed her wrists to pine them next to her, he put quite some force on her wrists.

"You can't go anywhere, I have you right where I want you."

He moved his head down to kiss her, but then Lara moved her leg around him and in one light move it was Alex who was flat on his back. Both tomb raiders laughed and they started kissing.

"Eureka!"

Their kiss was broken abruptly when Bryce ran into the room.

"Bryce can't you knock first?" Alex said sounding a little angry.

"Oh, yeh sorry yank," Bryce answered not sounding like he cared "Anyway, I've found something you might be interested in Lara."

He pushed the paper he just printed in Lara's hands "I've found this as a note in one of his translations, I'm sure it must mean something."

_To see a world in a grain of sand, _

_And a heaven in a wild flower._

_Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,_

_And eternity in an hour._

"Lara tossed the paper on the floor "Bugger, William Blake." Lara said and immediately put on the rest of her clothes.

Alex grabbed the paper from the floor and wondered why Lara was this upset. He read the poem, but that still didn't tell him anything.

"Lara, is there something I don't know, because I don't have a clue what this means."

The paper was yanked from his hands "Get dressed Alex, we're going back to Dr Wagner's apartment."

"I don't understand, I thought there was nothing in his apartment,-"

Alex couldn't finish talking as Lara threw his jeans right in his face.

"I'll tell you once we get there, just get dressed."

---

Half an hour later the couple was back at Dr Wagner's apartment. Immediately Lara started searching through the books but still Alex was confused.

"Lara, what are you looking for, I don't understand."

"When I was after the triangle of light my father had written me a letter that was instructed to be send to me on the Eighteenth of May. In it was the same poem that Doctor Wagner had hidden in his computer." Lara stopped talking for a moment when she found the right book. "Got it… My father had hidden a secret map to the temple in the book where the poem came from, my guess is that doctor Wagner has done the same."

Lara instantly opened the book and looked at the front and the backside, there was nothing hidden in there. Then she ran through the pages inside. Suddenly a small piece of paper fell out on the floor right in front of Alex's feet. He picked it up, Lara stepped beside it and together they read what was on it.

_Just before we left professor Kumara had come to me, he said he wanted to talk to me. I was confused. What could he possibly want to tell me?_

"_Have a seat." He said but I was so nervous I decided to stand._

"_What I am going to tell you now is very important and you must not tell anyone." This only grew the nerves inside of me._

"_There is a way to destroy the rings."_

_I thought I misheard him. "What?"_

"_You heard me the first time boy, I said there is a way to destroy the rings."_

_I was stunned, why me, why would he tell me something so important._

"_I don't think I understand."_

_Then the professor removed a small box. He opened it and except for three small openings there was nothing inside of it._

"_When you place the rings in the correct sequel they will loose their powers and become of no further use."_

_I was confused why he would not tell that to the Emperor._

"_Then why don't you destroy it?" _

"_No, my son, it must not be destroyed, it is too precious to be destroyed. Remember, we used the rings to save our Empire. It is a shame to let something so powerful be destroyed, it can be useful for the future of the Empire. The Emperor fails to see that but perhaps future Emperors won't. Write this secret into your diary and take it with you into the tomb."_

_Those were his last spoken words to me, I left and later that day I heard that the professor had been murdered by the emperor himself. Now I was the only one alive who knows the true secret of the rings and soon not even I will be alive anymore and the secret of the rings will be forgotten for ever._

Lara folded the paper together and placed it in her pocket.

"Bugger, the rings can be destroyed and we are the only two persons on this planet who know that."

"Maybe Powell knows." Alex said.

"No, I don't think he knows, let's go back to the manor."

Alex followed Lara outside "I still don't think it's a good idea to stay at the manor." He said.

"I know Alex, but we need the computers and library to look for information about this Professor Kumara. If we can find out where his grave is, we might find the box."

"But I'm still not happy about it."

"Don't worry Alex, I had Bryce increase the security."

"That still doesn't make me feel better."

By now they had reached the car "Alex, shut up and get in the car."

"Yes ma'm." he obeyed and entered the car.

---

_So, this was chapter six. I'll do my best to hurry with the next chapter oka. In the mean time you must keep reviewing, cause if you don't I think I might die…or something…_


	7. Alex there is something I have to tell y...

_Darlian, Evil Powell huh? I kinda stole the poisoning idea from the second movie only this wasn't a decease this was just poison. Thanks again for ur review always keep looking forward to them. Oh one little thing, do not forget to update ur story soon, it's such a good one ;)_

_MJ, Haha I hate ur cliffies too, so now I write one but I think I've written worse cliffies. Anyways thank you for ur faithful review MJ. _

_Greenleaf, Guess what, ur review saved my life, lol, that sequel thing I knew it was wrong I just couldn't come up with the right word. Stupid cause I have a dictionary at home, totally forgot about that. You found the poisoning thing disgusting? It kinda was, wasn't it? Anyway don't hold back when u find more spelling errors and thank you for ur review._

_I have to add a little author's note here. I came up with this crazy idea about Lara. You will find out what it is in this chapter, if you don't like it please tell me so I can throw this chappie away and place an alternative in it…now on with the story…_

_---_

Chapter 7, Alex there is something I have to tell you.

The next morning Alex woke up and noticed Lara wasn't lying next to him anymore. He looked up and scanned the room, his eyes landed on Lara hanging over the railing of the bathtub.

"Lara are you alright?" he asked as he stepped out bed and walked towards her.

Just as he asked this Lara vomited over the railing.

Like a worried husband Alex kneeled down beside her and wrapped his arm around her.

"My god Lara, you're sick."

Lara sighed and stood back on her feet.

"I'm not, I'll be fine Alex." She said as she desperately tried to find her way back to the bed.

Alex followed her, he placed his hand under her chin and gently lifts her head up. The young tomb raider saw pale.

"Don't tell me you are fine, you're as white as paper." He said.

Lara pulled her head back. "I'll be fine…" she said again "All I need is an aspirin."

Lara is a stubborn woman, Alex knew that better then anyone else. He didn't want to start a discussion with her.

"Fine…" Alex said "You can find me in the library." He put on his jeans and without bothering to put on his shirt he walked out of the room.

"Bugger…" she said softly and started to get dressed.

Lara sighed, she's never sick and this is the third time in a week that she feels noxious, off course she already knew the reason behind this, but she didn't want to tell Alex, not yet.

When she was dressed, Lara walked downstairs and in the hallway she ran into Hillary. He looked concerned when he saw Lara's pale face.

"Lara are you alright? Alex told me you were sick."

"I'm fine." She said.

But just as she said these words her stomach turned again. Immediately she hurried herself to the kitchen, the bath room was too far away. She hangs her head over the sink and vomited immediately, after two more times the noxiousness was gone and she stood back up to find out Hillary was standing behind her.

"You're fine I know," Hillary said before Lara was trying to be stubborn again. "But perhaps you could find some time to visit a pharmacy today, or do you already know the reason behind all this vomiting?"

Hillary had already figured it out, there was no reason for Lara to keep it secret anymore.

"Sometimes Hillary, I hate you."

"That means I am right?" the butler asked.

"Yes Hillary, you're right, I'm pregnant."

"Then why not tell Alex?"

"I want to wait after all this with Powell is over." She replied the butler.

"I think he deserves to know now and besides, he might find out sooner or later when you keep vomiting everywhere."

The butler made Lara smile "Maybe you're right Hilly." She said. "I just need to find the right moment."

"But you will tell him today?" It more sounded like an order then a question.

"Yes Hilly, I will tell him today." She replied.

"Good, then I can go back to work again." The butler said and started to clean the mess Lara had just made in the sink.

The tomb raider smiled at her butler and walked out of the kitchen, Alex told her he was in the library. It probably was best to tell him now, Hillary was right. But Lara had no idea how Alex would react and that's what scares her. What if he doesn't want to have children? Well one thing is for sure, Lara will not get an abortion.

She reached the library and saw Alex sitting at her desk reading on of her books. He hadn't noticed her presence yet, until she walked behind him and placed her arms around his waist.

"I'm sorry…" she whispered softly in his ear and placed a soft kiss on his cheek.

Alex moved his hands to hers "It's alright…" he said "I just hate it when you're being stubborn."

He made Lara laugh, she moved back from the American and seated herself on the desk next to him.

"Alex, there is something I have to tell you." She said carefully.

Questionable eyes were aimed at her.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I want to explain to you why I vomited today." She said.

Alex moved his hand up "Lara you don't have to explain to me you are sick, I can see that by myself."

Immediately Lara pushed his hand down. This was it, she will tell him now.

"Alex, I'm not sick, I'm pregnant…"

A moment of silence followed as Lara's words made Alex speechless. With his eyes wide open he looked at Lara's belly, then a smile formed on his face and before Lara knew it Alex dove himself into her arms. When he let go five seconds later the smile on his face had increased.

"Wow, you're…I'm…wow." He jumped up and hugged Lara again.

This time Lara pulled him away.

"Alex calm down." She said also wearing a smile on her face.

"I can't calm down Lara, I am going to be a father…how long already?" he asked.

"I think I have about eight months to go." She replied.

"Great," he said "Plenty of time left to make the baby room."

Suddenly the weirdest idea flew through his head.

"You're not going to get an abortion are you?" he asked worried.

Lara placed her hands on her hips "I am not going to get an abortion Alex, you should know I would never do anything like that, I would murder a child and that is something I can't live with."

"So you're happy to become a parent too?" he asked.

Lara smiled "Yes Alex, I want to be a parent too, just have to get used to this noxiousness that moving around in my stomach, I can't use it right now with Powell breathing in our necks."

"Speaking of him, we still have to find that box to destroy the power of the rings, how far is Bryce with the research about this box?"

"I don't know yet, let's find out."

Together they walked to the tech room, but Bryce wasn't there.

"He must be still sleeping." Lara said.

"Lara?" Alex said.

"Yes Alex?"

"Do Bryce and Hillary know you are pregnant?" the American asked suddenly.

"Just Hillary, because he found out before I even had a chance to tell anyone."

Alex smirked "He always had a nose for that, if something is going on Hillary is the first one to know. Maybe he should start his own gossip magazine."

Lara laughed at his words "Wait here, I'll wake Bryce." She said.

On her way to Bryce's trailer she felt dizzy, Lara looked for support from the trailer until the dizziness was out of her head. Just as Lara wanted to knock on the door, it flew open causing Lara to step back and prevent herself from being hit by the door.

"Oh, hello Lara, I hadn't seen you there, is something wrong?"

Lara smiled and wrapped her arm around her tech to take him inside the manor.

"No nothing is wrong Bryce, Alex and I were just wondering how your research about the box was doing."

In all the years he knew Lara, not once he she done what she did now. It confused him.

"Lara, to what do I own this arm that's wrapped around my shoulder."

A smile formed on her face as she opened the door and allowed Bryce to enter first.

"I'm pregnant." She said as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

Lara closed the door behind her and when her eyes moved to Bryce she looked in the confused eyes of her friend.

"You're joking…right?"

The tomb raider narrowed her eyes "Why? You're not happy for me?" she asked suddenly sounding very serious.

"Well…I uh…you're not joking are you?"

"No Bryce I'm not joking."

They were still standing in front of the door.

"So you are Pregnant?" he asked again.

"Yes Bryce I am pregnant."

"Well then…" The tech leaned forward and gave her a big kiss on her cheek. "Congratulations Lara."

"Thank you Bryce." Lara said and once again she wrapped her arm around the tech.

"Is it a boy or a girl?" Bryce asked as they were on their way to the tech room.

"I don't know and I don't want to know until it's born."

"Blimey, what do you want it to be?"

"As long as he or she is happy I really don't care." Lara answered.

"When will you and the yank marry?"

"Bryce…"

"What? You have to get married before you have children."

"No we don't, if we don't want to we don't have to, now I don't want any more questions about the baby. From now on, all you are talking about is the research about Kumara and the box. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal" he said smiling as they reached the tech room.

Alex was still there.

"Well Alex I heard you are becoming a father."

"Yes I am Bryce, isn't it great?"

"Lovely…" the tech said but then he dove himself behind his computer again.

Confused eyes were aimed at Lara as Alex didn't quite understand Bryce's strange reaction on Lara's pregnancy.

"Never mind him he just has to get used to the fact that in ten years there will be someone in the manor who thinks the same way he does."

"I heard that." Bryce immediately bit back.

"I know, just hurry with your research Bryce." She turned to Alex. "Come, let's go for a swim."

She dragged Alex with her, he had no choice but to come along.

"Lara I don't have anything to swim in."

The female tomb raider stopped walking and turned to her lover.

"You can borrow from Hillary, or you can swim naked."

Alex smiled and pulled Lara closer to him.

"Will you be swimming naked?" he asked.

"No…" Lara replied and continued her way to the pool.

"Then hold on a second while I rob Hillary's closet." Alex said and hurried his way upstairs.

---

_So what do you think, was it a good idea to make Lara pregnant or don't you want her to be pregnant, please tell me._


	8. All that you need to know

Scarlett, Hey u changed ur name. I like it. And I'm also glad u liked the idea of Lara being pregnant. Thanks for the review and enjoy the next chapter.

Hi Darlian, here you are again. Thank you for ur review, always look forward to them. Hillary writing gossip sounds fun huh, but let's just keep it with being a butler who can always see what's bothering Lara.

Chapter 8, All that you need to know.

Lara had rested her arms on the edge of the pool with her chin placed on her hands and her eyes closed. Alex had his chest pressed against her back and his arms wrapped around her waist so he could place his hands on her belly. They had been in this position for almost ten minutes, until Bryce came running into the pool.

"Blimey Lara, I've got it." He said.

The tomb raider opened her eyes and aimed them at her tech. "You've got what Bryce?" she asked.

"The location of the box." He replied.

Alex let go of Lara and placed himself in the same position as Lara.

"What took you so long?" the yank joked.

Bryce completely ignored him and turned his eyes to Lara.

"I started searching for this Kumara but I could find nothing, yada." While Bryce started talking Lara pushed herself out of the pool. "But then with some real luck I ended up in a story about a Japanese monk called Kumara."

Lara reached for her towel and wrapped it around her body, Alex was still in the pool keeping his eyes at Lara's beautiful body.

"A monk?" Lara asked

"Yes, a monk." The tech replied. "He was a monk of the Fuji temple in…"

"The Fuji Mountains." Lara finished for him.

"Obviously huh?" Bryce said.

"Yes it all makes sense now. Fuji monks are known for their wisdom and knowledge, it is said that Fuji monks can become over more then a hundred and fifty years old."

"Bloody hell Lara, you really know everything don't you?" the tech said. "Anyway, my biggest guess is that he has hidden the box in that temple to make sure it stays safe and to keep its identity a secret."

"Wow Bryce, you did quite the job," Alex said, still with his hands over the edge of the pool "But what are we supposed to do now, rob a temple full of monks?"

Lara chuckled "No silly, we are not going to rob the temple. We are going to ask them nicely, if that is, they are willing to let us in to the temple."

"Why won't they let you in?" Bryce asked.

"Fuji monks are quite fond on their peace and they don't want any outsiders to disturb them."

Lara tossed her towel on the chair behind her and walked out of the swimming pool. "I'll see if I can ask Shugrave to give us a lift." She said just before she exited the pool.

"Bloody hell yank, you are one lucky man." The tech said once Alex finally had left the water and was drying himself with Lara's towel.

"Why is that?" the American asked.

"Hello? Have you seen the woman who loves you? She's so beautiful, do you even know how difficult it is for me to not stare at her when she stands next to me in her bikini. God, I'm a bloody man yank, how can a man reject so much beauty in a bikini."

For a moment there was silence, then Alex burst out in laughter.

"What?" Bryce asked confused.

"Nothing Bryce, nothing…" Alex replied when he finished laughing. "You're just one funny guy." And then the American followed the mother of his future child out of the pool.

"Bugger...why doesn't he understand what I said…" Bryce said confused "Oh well, American's…" and then Bryce too exited the swimming pool.

-

_Powell's manor, London._

Manfred Powell was meditating. He sat on a large pillow with his legs crossed and his fore arms rested on his knees. The scent of incense lingered in the room. He noticed his silence was disturbed by a knocking sound on the door. Powell knew who it was because he had asked Daniel to come by. A special assignment was waiting for the young man and it was important that he does it perfectly or else it will mean the end of his life. If not by Lara, Powell will personally make sure that Daniel will not life to see another day.

And that will be a shame, Daniel is a good man, the best he had in years. It will be difficult to find a replacement so let's hope he will do this the way Powell planned it.

Daniel entered and Powell opened his eyes.

"Daniel, please have a seat." Powell said and motioned to another pillow on the floor.

Daniel applied and seated himself in front of his employer.

"You wanted to talk to me sir?"

"Yes, I want you to do something for me."

"Off course." he said.

"You studied the security on Lady Croft's manor and know exactly how it works?" he asked and Daniel nodded in reply. "Good, tonight I want you to break into her manor and search her computers, closets anything what you might think of as a clue that leads us to the stone she has and see if you can get Doctor Wagner's hard drive back, if we have the hard drive we might find out sooner how the rings works."

"Not a problem, you want me to go alone?"

"Yes, because your stay at Croft manor has to stay unnoticed and if you want to break into Croft manor unnoticed you have to do everything perfect, or else she will have you for dinner and if she doesn't kill you, I will."

The expression on Daniel's face stayed the same, even after Powell's threat.

"Don't worry sir, I will make sure she doesn't notice a thing, but I can't guarantee you that I can get Doctor Wagner's hard drive back. This Bryce is good in what he does and I don't think I can get the hard drive in my possession during my short visit in the manor."

Powell frowned.

"What do you mean with your short visit?"

"Well, if I want to break into the manor unnoticed I can turn of the security system for about half an hour. And with that much time I can barely walk through the entire manor, so stealing a hard drive from a highly secured computer is almost impossible."

The words made Powell laugh.

"I am glad I hired you Daniel, you're a good man. Let's focus on the stone then."

Daniel smiled back and stood up from the pillow.

"Alright then, I'll see you tomorrow morning."

Powell didn't reply and already closed his eyes to continue his meditation. He didn't even notice the noise from the door that sounded when Daniel closed it behind him.

-

_Fuji Mountains, Japan._

Lara and Alex were standing on the Fuji Mountains. Shugrave had just dropped them off. According to the GPS the temple should only be a few hours of walking away.

"Well here we go then." Alex said.

But Lara paid no attention, she was looking around and seemed to be enjoying the beautiful environment.

"It's beautiful in here." She said and then started walking.

"I agree." Alex said "Makes you look even more beautiful."

Lara smiled and looked at Alex "No flirting Alex…" she said. "Focus your attention on the monks, they can think of us as a threat, in that case they can be rather dangerous."

"Your wish, is my command." The yank said.

"I'll keep that in mind." Lara said back to him and made the American smile.

Their journey through the jungle was not quite comfortable. The path that they were following had been grown full with trees and plants, making it difficult for them to find their way up the mountain. Alex even had gazed his leg on a rock that was sticking out from under a tree. Lara had bandaged it and after a short break of ten minutes they continued walking.

"How far away are we?" Alex asked after a long time of silence.

Lara looked at the GPS, it couldn't be far anymore.

"I'm guessing we still have to walk about thirty minutes, how is your leg holding up?"

"It's fine." The American replied.

"If you start to feel sick, tell me, then I have to change the bandage, we wouldn't want that wound to infect."

"Don't worry Lara, but how is your sickness, feeling any better?"

The young tomb raider smiled at her friend "No, but I'll live." She replied.

Suddenly Lara stopped walking. There was something wrong but it didn't hit her yet.

"What's wrong?" Alex asked.

Lara scanned her surroundings. The birds had stopped singing, the wind had stopped blowing, there wasn't even a breeze.

"I don't know yet." She replied.

The tomb raider reached for her guns and as Alex saw this he too pulled out his guns.

And that's when three monks emerged in front of them, Lara heard movement from behind her as well, she spun around and it didn't take her long to notice that they were surrounded by monks. They wore white robes and not even one of them had any hair.

"Alex lower your gun." Lara said as she placed hers back into the holsters on her thighs.

"Why? You said these monks could be dangerous."

"Yes I did, but I think they'll be much nicer to us when we don't aim our weapons on them."

Lara had made her point there. The yank tugged his gun behind his belt and just like Lara, he waited for what would happen. It seemed that not was happening. The monks just stood there, their faces stone cold, their eyes all aimed at Lara. Not even one set of eyes was aimed at Alex, they were all looking at Lara and to be honest, Lara wasn't really happy with that.

Then from behind the monks, a soft croaky voice sounded.

"Ah…Lady Croft…we've been expecting you…"

A few monks in front of her stepped aside. They made room for another monk. It was an old short man. His wrinkled face told Lara that he had to be at least a hundred years old. He walked to her on a funny way, he reminded her of Master Yoda from the Star Wars movies.

"You've been expecting me?" She asked.

"Off course…" the old man replied.

"Well Lara, guess you were right about their knowledge, they even know who you are." Alex said as he paced next to her.

The old monk looked at Alex, he narrowed his eyes and brought up a small smile.

"And you are?" he asked.

"Alex West."

"Oh." Was all the monk said and then he turned back to Lara "Come Lady Croft, this way please."

The monks stepped aside again to let Lara and the old monk pass.

"Hey…" Alex yelled "Lara could you give me a hand here."

Lara turned around and noticed that the monks had blocked Alex path.

"He can not come, he must wait here till you return." The old monk said.

His words made Lara laugh.

"You heard the man Alex, just wait there I'll be back in a flash."

She turned around again and followed the monk up the mountains. Lara could hear Alex curse behind her, she smiled as she knew he wasn't rather comfortable with all those monks around him.

"How is it you know my name but you didn't know Alex." Lara asked the old monk.

"We only know that what we need to know." The old man replied.

"Fascinating." Lara said. But not aimed at his words but at the temple in front of her.

The temple was made of wood and bamboo, a statue of Buddha was resting in front of it. Small primitive huts were surrounding the temple and much to Lara's surprise it weren't just monks that lived her. There were also women and children, not dressed in white robes like the monks.

"There are quite some things you need to know about us Lady Croft, please follow me, all your questions will be answered."

The monk walked into the direction of the temple, Lara followed him but at the same time she admired the beautiful area that surrounded her.

-

I hope u all liked it, cause I think it's not that good as the other chappies I wrote, but please keep reviewing. 


	9. Discovered

_Faith, thank you for the review. Hope you don't mind the waiting for the next chappie, but here it is and I hop u'll enjoy it. Personally I don't think its that good, but please tell me what you think of it._

_Peace pixie, Thank you for the review, its appreciated. There is not much action in this chapter either but I'll promise more action in the next chapter. _

_Darlian, Answers to all questions will come in this chappie, hope you like it. Thanks again for the review Darlian. Oh and I am glad you liked the part where Bryce couldn't resist Lara's beauty, it was funny wasn't it?_

_Cato, Yes off course I remember you. Its always fun to read ur reviews. And I am glad ur still sticking with the story. Thank you for the review and I hope u'll enjoy the next chappie._

_Sexy Bitch, (love ur pen name) Hello there thank you for the review and I am glad you like the story plot. Will Powell find out? Read the next chappie and find out!

* * *

_

Chapter 9, Discovery.

**Croft manor**

Daniel had just disabled the security system of Croft manor. He walked to the backside of the manor and opened the door to the kitchen. With a flashlight in his right hand and a gun in his left he found his way through the kitchen and entered the main hall. He had already planned his way through the manor. First the living room and the tech room, then Lara's room. Especially with Lara's room he had to be careful. If he would make one wrong move he would awake the tomb raider and his life is over.

Daniel walked to the living room and started to scan the room with the help of his flashlight. The light showed him a few cupboards and a closet. He looked through all of them and found nothing. They were already searched the last time he was at her manor and nothing was found then either. It made him decide to enter the tech room, just a short peek to see if there is a possibility to steal the hard disk back.

Every time he sees the tech room Daniel gets sort of jealous. If he had all these computers and gadgets for himself it would be much easier to do all his research, but Mr Powell has neither the money nor the will to provide him with all this equipment.

Daniel placed himself on one of the chairs and let his eyes scan the computers, so many computers, how can he ever find out in which one the hard disk is. He sighed and leaned back in the chair. Suddenly, something caught his attention from the corner of his eye. He turned to it and saw his eyes landing on a robot.

"Holy chit…I haven't seen that one yet."

He stood up from his chair and carefully walked to the robot. Daniel slowly moved his hand over the robot and carefully watched its structure.

"Wow, this Bryce really is good at his work. Would you look at this bloody robot."

Then Daniel reminded himself of the small amount of time he has to search the manor.

"Oh bugger, only fifteen minutes left, time to search Lara's room."

He left the robot for what it was and found his way up the stairs into the long hallway that leads to Lara's room. With light footsteps he passed Hillary's room and stopped when he reached Lara's. Much to his surprise the door to Lara's room was open and when he walked in he was even more surprised to see that Lara wasn't lying in her bed. The first thing that came up in his mind was that she had noticed him. But then he saw that the bed had not been slept on. It could be to trick him but he had a feeling that if she had noticed him she would have attacked him by now.

He lit the flashlight and started to search Lara's room. At the same moment he started to think of a reason why she wouldn't be at home. The only time she is not at the manor during the night is when she is on an adventure, something that is unlikely now that he and Powell are crossing her path.

Still he could think of thousands of reasons for her absence in the manor but it would only steal a lot of his valuable time, so he turned his thoughts to the drawer he'd opened and tried to find something about the ring Powell wants so badly.

When there was nothing to be found in the drawer he closed it and walked to her closet. Except for clothes two guns and three knifes there was nothing more to find. He looked at his watch, only seven minutes left. He already knew from the start that this was not going tow work, simply because there was just too little time. Half an hour is certainly not enough to search the entire manor. It would be much easier to just assault the manor and ask her personally, or forget about the stone and completely focus on the rings.

Daniel closed the closet and decided to leave Lara's room and to go back to London. But when he took a step towards the door he noticed his foot landing on something. After he moved his foot away he shone the flashlight on it. There was a small cotton box, Daniel started to read what was printed on it.

_Pharmacy pregnancy test_

"What in the world…" The box was picked from the ground and Daniel reads the text again. "Bloody hell, Lara Croft is pregnant?"

He shrugged, Alex West sure was a lucky man. He's in love with a beautiful woman and now she's pregnant. Never the less, this is very useful information even though it was not the reason behind his visit here. At least some good news to bring back to Powell.

Suddenly his watch started beeping. Daniel knew exactly what that means. He has only two minutes left to leave the manor. Immediately he placed the box back on the floor and calmly walked out of Lara's room. With soft footsteps he passed the butler's room and walked down the stairs. Daniel passed the hallway and then the tech room. One last look was aimed at the robot before he entered the kitchen and left through the same door he used to enter the manor. At the left side of the manor the security transmitter switched from a red lamp to a green one, Daniel saw it happening and knew he was just in time. His hand removed the chip from the transmitter and he left Croft manor.

* * *

**Japan, Fuji Mountains.**

Lara was sitting on the wooden floor of the temple. The old monk was sitting across her. On their way to the temple the villagers had all been looking at her with questionable looks. It was obvious that they don't get many visitors from normal civilization.

Another monk appeared carrying a plate with two tea cups. One was offered to the old monk, while the other one was handed to Lara.

"So, Lara Croft, you are here because of box, am I right?"

"Yes I am here for the box…" Lara answered.

"You know that we sworn to keep it secret and we do everything to prevent from leaving village."

"I understand, but I only want it to stop a very bad man from using the rings."

The monk nodded "Yes, Mr Powell, luck has been at his side."

He knows about Powell why does that not surprise her.

"You must be careful Lara Croft, this man will not make same mistake again."

"Neither will I." Lara replied and made the monk laugh.

"How is baby doing."

Everything inside her froze, how could he possibly know that she's pregnant.

"Like I told you before, we Fuji monks only know what we need to know. You Special guest, know more about you then butler."

Another monk entered the temple, he carried a key with him and handed it to the old monk. The monk stood up and walked to the altar at the other side of the temple. He used the key to open something inside the altar. A small box emerged in Lara's sight and something tells her that is the box she's looking for. The monk locked the drawer and handed the key back to the other monk, then he seated himself across Lara again and placed the box between them.

"This is box you want." The monk said. "We sworn never to allow it to leave village…but we decide you can take box to protect world from Powell."

He placed his right hand on the box and slides it to Lara. Lara looked at it for a few moments. It was made of wood and engraved with Japanese symbols. Then she lifted the box from the floor and put it in her backpack.

"I'll make sure Powell doesn't activate the rings."

"Off course you will, be careful with the little creature in your stomach."

"Thank you," Lara said and stood back on her feet. "I guess I'll go back to Alex before the monks will drive him crazy."

"Yes good, my monks can be very annoying." The monk joked.

He showed Lara out of the temple and guided her back into the woods. It all went rather slow, because the monk couldn't walk as fast as Lara can.

"Ah thank god your back, another hour with these guys and I think I might have died." Alex said as he was relieved to see the tomb raider standing in front of him.

"You should spend some days with these monks Alex and learn to be patient."

"I am patient, except when these guys are around me, now did they give you the box?"

"Yes Alex we have the box." Lara turned to the old monk. "I'll promise to return it once the rings are safe."

The monk nodded at her "I have faith in you Lara Croft." He said as a smile was forming on his face.

Lara nodded back at the monk, then she and Alex walked back into the jungle.

* * *

**Croft manor**

"Bloody hell…" Bryce said.

Hillary just entered the tech room, carrying a plate with Bryce his favorite coffee and wondered why he said this.

"What's wrong Bryce?" he asked with his eyes focused on the monitor Bryce was looking at.

"The security system had been offline for half an hour." He replied and immediately started ticking on his keyboard to find out what the reason behind this was.

"How is that possible?"

"I don't know, that's what I'm trying to find out."

The ticking on the keyboard continued. Hillary heard Bryce mumbling and he could have sworn Bryce had let out a few curses.

"Blimey, I've found it."

Hillary peered at the monitor "Then what is it?" he asked curious.

"The transmitter outside has lost its power, that's why the security has been offline. But the weird thing is that it has been offline for exactly half an hour."

"I take it that's not normal." Hillary replied.

He always tries to figure out the technology these days but it's just too complicating for him.

"No, it could mean only one thing…" Bryce said "and that thing is a someone who broke into the manor."

The butler frowned and could hardly believe it.

"What could someone possibly think to find here in only half an hour? It would take a day to walk through the entire manor."

Bryce chuckled at Hillary's words.

"Yes I know, let's see what's missing."

Again Bryce started to tick on the keyboard and click with his mouse. Hillary did his best to keep up with him. After a few minutes the ticking and clicking stopped.

"Nothing, the bugger didn't mess with our computer. This only leaves the rest of the manor to check."

"I think that would be a waste of time. Obviously the man who broke into the manor works for Powell. So if you would break in and try to find something to use against Lara, where would you look?"

The tech frowned "I guess I would look in Lara's room and in the tech room." He said confused.

"Exactly, I can almost be certain to tell you that nothing is missing, because everything we have against Powell is in this computer and in her father's secret hideout."

"What makes you believe that the bugger didn't find the stone?"

"They didn't find it the first time why would they find it now, trust me Bryce, the thief has come here for nothing. He came empty handed and he left empty handed."

"Who came empty handed?" a female voice suddenly sounded from behind them.

Both men turned around and saw Lara standing in front of them, accompanied by Alex.

"Lara, back already?" Hillary asked without bothering to answer her question.

"Yes…with the box, but you didn't answer my question."

"Someone broke into the manor last night, for half an hour."

"Half an hour?" Alex said confused. "You need at least a day to break in and search the entire manor."

"Is there anything missing?" Lara asked.

"I believe there isn't." Hillary replied.

"You believe or you know?" the tomb raider asked.

"I know."

"Alright, in that case…" Lara handed him her bag "you can go back to work." There was a tone of sarcasm in her voice.

The butler shakes his head and smiled at Lara.

"Yes milady."

Lara smiled back at him and watched the butler walk upstairs. Suddenly her noxiousness returned. Her head started spinning and she had the feeling that she would throw up soon. It seemed Alex noticed this and already wrapped his arm around her for support.

"Why don't you get some rest Lara? It's been a long day."

"No Alex there is no time to rest, not with Powell on our heels."

"Lara Powell has just been here, he won't show up again today…" he saw Lara wanted to protest "now shut up and get some rest."

The look in his eyes reminded Lara of Hillary. Impossible to ignore it. And she knew he was right. Some rest would be good for her and for the baby.

"Alright West, you've made your point, I'll get some rest."

"Good." The yank replied and placed a kiss on Lara's cheek.

He still couldn't believe it. In less then a year he is going to be a father. Alex just can't stop thinking about it. But there has been one thing bothering him. He and Lara aren't married yet. If he is going to be a father he believes that they should marry. When all this trouble with Powell is over and if they might survive he would find the perfect moment to ask her to marry him.

* * *

Please continue reviewing, I'll promise to write the next chappie soon! 


	10. Power, Pain, Fear

_Sorry you all had to wait so long for the next chappie, but here it is, finally._

_Darlian, busy with school huh? Everyone around me seems to have that problem, hope you don't have to make extra hours. Anyway thank you for your review and I hop you'll enjoy the next chappie._

_Faith, thank you for ur review Faith, it gives me Faith ;) haha. Sorry for the waiting but I still hope you'll read the next chappie._

_Pixie, Hillary is great huh, he often makes me laugh, especially in the first movie. Anyway thanks for the review and enjoy the next chapter.

* * *

_

**Chapter ten, Power, pain and fear.**

Daniel was pacing at high speed. He was on his way to Mr Powell to report what he found in Croft manor yesterday. Powell might be pleased to hear that Lady Croft is pregnant, even though it was not the information he had asked for.

When he reached Powell's office he knocked on the door and walked inside. Powell was sitting behind his laptop.

"Ah, Daniel you've come to bring me good news?"

"That depends Mr Powell, if I told you Lady Croft is pregnant would you consider that to be good news?" he said as he seated himself on the edge of the desk.

Powell's eyes immediately shot away from the laptop, he seemed to be surprised by Daniel's words but at the same time pleased.

"Pardon me, did you say pregnant?"

"Yes I did Mr Powell."

Powell narrowed his eyes.

"Now how do you know that?"

"I found the box of a pregnancy test."

Powell frowned "You found the box? What makes you believe that she's pregnant Daniel, when you haven't seen the result of the test itself?"

"You've made a point with that Mr Powell, but you told me that lady Croft is a woman who's very confident about herself. So I figure that she will only buy such a test when she's confident about the chance of being pregnant."

Powell leaned back in his seat and started to think about the words just told by Daniel. He might have a point. Lara could most certainly be pregnant. This could come in handy.

"This is good news Daniel, but I fear that it was the only thing you found out last night, am I right."

"Not exactly, when I reached Lady Crofts room I noticed she was not present and her bed had not been slept on." He paused for a brief moment. "That gives me a number of options, one, she fell asleep somewhere in the manor where I haven't been, two she's staying with Alex West or three she's on a trip that's connected with the rings or the stone."

Impressed by Daniels words, Powell stood up from his chair and walked over to his assistant. Powell placed his hand on Daniels shoulder.

"It is time to take some serious messieurs, but first we go to the lab."

Powell reached for his jacked and followed Daniel out of his office, he placed his key in the door and turned it until he heard the lock click. The key was placed in his jacked pocked and then they walked through the hallway to reach his car and drive to the laboratory.

* * *

**Croft manor**.

Covered with sweat, Lara exited the practice room. She had a small cut just above her left eyebrow and on her left fore arm. In her right hand she was dragging what was left of a new and improved model of Simon. She already saw Bryce sprinting towards it.

"Lara when will you stop torturing me."

"When you build a robot that can match me." She replied with a smile.

Lara unbuckled her gun belt and hung it over a chair.

"Where's Alex?" she asked.

"I don't know, somewhere in this maze you call home I guess." Bryce replied and seemed to be more concerned about his robot then Alex.

The tomb raider chuckled and decided to get a shower. She reached for a towel that was resting on the desk in front of her and used it to wipe away the sweat on her forehead.

"Lara may I remind you that you're pregnant and it's not good for the health of your baby to over train yourself."

Much to her surprise Lara saw Hillary coming towards her with a bottle of energy drink.

"Hillary please don't start, if Powell points a gun at me, I have to fight as well. That's how my life is and as long as I'm capable of protecting myself I will and you know that I will do anything to protect the baby from being hurt."

Hillary smiled "A typical thing to say for a Croft."

Lara smiled back at him and then continued her way to her room. She undressed and stepped under the shower. For over more then fifteen minutes Lara stayed there, then she reached for a towel and dried her body. Still naked, Lara stepped in front of the mirror looking at her belly. The idea of being a mother still hadn't struck her yet.

"Hmm, I seem to walk in just at the right moment."

Lara saw Alex walking in her direction as his body reflected in the mirror. She turned around and saw Alex nearing with an ear to ear smile. Lara chuckled and walked to the bed to put on her clothes.

"Well, there goes my view." Alex said.

"You'll have plenty of other times to enjoy your view Alex, but not today."

"I noticed you wrecked up another Simon this morning."

"You saw it?"

"No but I ran into Bryce and he was very, very grumpy."

Lara's lips perched into a smile.

"He's not grumpy because I messed up another robot, he's grumpy because he can't build a robot that can match me. Bryce is hoping for a moment where I yell for his help over the radio."

"Yeh right, in his dreams." Alex said as he followed Lara downstairs. "Anyway, did you come up with a plan against Powell yet?"

"Not really, Bryce is sorting a few things out for me, I'm waiting for him."

"What did you ask him to do?"

"You'll find out when he finds out."

Alex wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her towards him.

"You like teasing me, do you."

"Off course, and I also like to beat you at the assault course but I missed you there today."

Alex let go of her and smiled "I had some things to do." Was a mysterious reply from the yank.

"Some things to do?" Lara asked curious.

"I'll let you know, when I know." Alex said right back at her.

Lara smirked "Touché" she said.

By the now the couple had reached the library and Lara seated herself behind her desk. The box was resting on the desk, Lara trailed her finger over it, her eyes examining it carefully, like she already did dozens of times.

"This is the only chance we've got to stop Powell," Lara said "And it's a small one."

"I know Lara, but I also know you, and you will try anything possible to stop him, and with me by your side." Alex shrugged "Ha, Powell won't stand a chance, we are invincible."

"Watch yourself Alex, you're turning into a selfish yank again."

They laughed together barely aware of Hillary entering the library.

"Good morning love birds, would you like some breakfast?"

Lara looked up at her butler and smiled at him.

"No thank you Hilly, I already ate." Lara replied to her butler.

"Well, in that case, Bryce requested your presence at the tech room, he said it was urgent."

"Thank you Hilly." Lara said and stood up from her seat.

On a calm pace she walked to the tech room. Hillary and Alex were close behind her, wondering why it was so important Bryce wanted to talk to her. Bryce immediately jumped up when he saw the tomb raider approach.

"Lara, I've almost got it." He said. "With the help of Shugrave I managed to find out something about a Doctor who mysteriously left his home."

Lara folded her arms, ready to listen to Bryce his story with interest.

"Shugrave found out about a doctor, who is specialized in Ancient Chinese, had one day packed his backs and never returned. Right now one of Shugrave's men is trying to find out where this man is hiding, it will not take long before he finds out."

"What makes you believe that this man is working for Powell?" Alex asked.

"Nothing, but it's the only lead we've got, unless you have a better plan West?"

Alex shakes his head.

"Right," Lara said. "Stay on it Bryce, I want to get those rings before Powell manages to activate them."

"You got it Lara." Bryce relied and immediately turned back to his computers.

* * *

**London, Powell's hide out.**

"Welcome Daniel, to my humble laboratory."

Powell opened a door that leads to a secret lab, he spread his arms through the air and showed Daniel his newest hideout. It was a large room, you could compare it with the first floor of Croft manor. There were all kinds of computers all running on a large power plant at the backside of the room. Daniel was impressed, Powell had arranged this perfectly well.

"Impressive, isn't it Daniel?" Powell said as he paced next to the stunned man.

"Impressive indeed Mr Powell, if this is where you are translating the diary, with this equipment, it can not take long before the translation is finished."

Powell smirked.

"You are right Daniel, the translation had just been finished." he turned to one of the men walking around in the lab. "Professor, if you please."

The professor nodded and seemed to understand Powell's intensions. A few seconds later the old man returned carrying a small box. Daniel didn't even have to guess what was inside of that. The box was handed to Powell, causing the large smile on his face to increase.

"Thank you," Powell said. "You've done an excellent job Professor."

"Thank you Mr Powell." The doctor said.

Daniel couldn't help but notice that the man seemed to be scared of Powell. Most certainly Powell would have forced this man to do this work, probably by threatening the life of someone close to him. Actually, Daniel didn't care, he probably would have done the same thing, but he was thrilled to find out if the rings will prove to work just as the legend tells.

Powell opened the box, showing the three rings. Blue, black and white were their colors,

each one of them having their own powers. Powell put the rings one by one around his fingers, all on his left hand, except the white one. Daniel watched him with curiosity but also scanned the lab, hoping that Croft would not show up and disturb Powell's plans, like she had done before.

Once all rings were around his finger, the professor placed a piece of paper in front of him, then he took place next to Daniel, wondering what might happen. Powell pointed both hands forward, palms up, his eyes aimed at the paper in front of him. He started talking in a language Daniel had never heard before. Though it fascinates him to see this, Daniel took more priority in scanning around looking for intruders. He knows Croft has the ability to come out of nowhere.

For a moment he turned his eyes back at Powell. The rings around his fingers started to glow, it was amazing to see and Daniel wasn't the only one who seemed to be stunned by this occurrence. The Professor as well as Powell himself were surprised to see the strong force coming from the rings. As the light grew stronger, they were forced to cover their eyes, except for Powell, Powell's smile was increasing and soon he burst out in laughter, evil laughter as he felt the power and strength enter his body.

The light faded…

Daniel regained his sight and was shocked but at the same time very pleased to see what had just happened. Powell had grown stronger. The rings around his finger were shining, but what most surprised the technician were Powell's eyes. His natural brown eyes were gone, replaced by dark glowing eyes. For a moment it even scared him, but only for a moment.

Daniel looked at the professor and saw the man shaking with fear, he looked back at Powell and noticed he had seen it too.

"What's the matter professor, don't like my new look?" he asked vicious as he took a few paces closer.

Daniel smirked as he started to notice what Powell's plans were with the professor. The old man was speechless, unable to move any muscle.

As Powell was close enough, he reached for the man's throat and cut of the air from his windpipe. The old man clawed his hand around Powell's wrist but his strength was nothing compared to Powell's. His lips turned purple and his eyes widened as the old man let out his last breath and felt motionless to the floor when Powell released him.

An evil grin covered Powell's face, new powers, it will take some time to control them but it is the perfect opportunity for revenge. He will let Lara feel what he had been trough when she left him to die in the temple, he will let her feel real fear and pain. Her end is near but it will be a slow and unforgettable end filled with pain that she could never imagine, starting with the man she loves most, Alex West.

* * *

_Well, finally chapter ten is finshed. Please review and I'll promise you will not have to wait long for the next chappie. _


	11. A nightmare that has come true

First of all I want to apologize to all my readers for letting them wait so long for me to update. I just had this terrible writers block I didn't seem to get out from, I think I'm still in it but I don't want to let you wait any longer. So read this chappie and enjoy it, hope you like it

Chianna, I apologize once more. I just suffered from this horrible writers block. Thanks for reviewing though, I'm glad you read my story.

Darlian, I'm sorry to let you wait so long for the next chappie Darlian. But here it is finally and I hope you like it. It was difficult to write cause I couldn't really think of a good ending but enjoy it and let me know what you think of it.

Faith, your not dead yet are you? I let you wait too long, please don't be dead, I'll kill myself if I killed you :). Anyway enjoy the next chappie, I hope you like it.

* * *

Chapter 11, A nightmare that has come true

_A secret society known as the Illuminati…_

…_Help me, and you get what I know you want…_

…_The fifteenth of May is never a good day…_

…_After all, you are the daughter of a genius…_

…_Stole, stole, it's not like you really owned them or anything…_

…_If you cross me, we will not be able to remain friends…_

…_He always steered his own course…your father…_

…_But time was stolen from us…_

Lara woke up with a start. Sweat covered her body, and she was breathing like an ox. Her eyes landed on the clock on her right, it was three in the morning. The tomb raider sighed, it had been a while since she last had a nightmare, especially this intense.

Lara turned around and wrapped her arm around Alex, she pulled herself closer to his body when she suddenly felt a strange sticky liquid on his stomach.

"What…?"

She moved her hand back and was shocked to see blood resting on her hands.

"Alex?" she said softly as she turned him on his back.

His eyes were closed, his face a white as snow. Lara pulled the sheets away and fear leaped into her body. Blood was everywhere, on the sheets, the bed, his entire body and even on her own body, though it took a while before she noticed this.

"My god…Alex…"

Lara was shaking his body back and forth, desperately hoping he would wake up. But she knew her eyes could not deceive her, the wound in his stomach proved that he was dead. Tears left her eyes as she stopped shaking his body and placed her head on his shoulder.

The only man she had ever loved in her entire life, the father of her future child was lying next to her, dead. How could this be, she had slept beside him for the entire night and hadn't noticed anything. The most idiotic thought flew through her head. What is she had done it in her sleep, during her nightmare she could have just grabbed a knife and kill him.

No, this is impossible. Lara is in control of her own body, she would never be able to do something like that, not even when she's asleep. And then again, where is the knife. Her brown eyes scanned the room, there was no knife in sight.

Then Lara thought of something that she should have thought of the first thing she saw Alex's body.

"Powell…"

Immediately Lara jumped out of bed. In her pajama's she walked out of her room, carefully making her way downstairs. It had to be him, and she has the feeling that Powell is still in the manor as well. Her eyes widened as a trail of blood emerged from Hillary's room and leads to the stairs.

Lara looked in Hillary's room and saw he was nowhere to be found.

"No Hilly, not you too."

Quick, but still on her guard, the tomb raider walked downstairs, following the blood trail, but knowing it is a trap. The trail leaded to Hillary just as she had hoped, but also just as she had feared, Hillary is dead.

Defeated she collapsed on her knees. Tears left her eyes and slowly found their way down her cheek. It was not supposed to happen this way, she was supposed to win and Hillary and Alex had to stay alive.

No, she could not give up hope now, there had to be a way to let this end in her advantage. Bryce, she had to find Bryce and hope he was still alive. The tomb raider crawled back on her feet and walked to the front door to find Bryce. She opened it and wanted to go outside. But that never happened. In a flash she saw Powell standing in front of her and then seconds later an invisible force threw her back.

Lara landed against the glass wall of the tech room and grunted in pain as she hit the floor. She knew Powell had the power of the rings, it was the only explanation for the death of her friends and the fact that she was lying here. Powell walked towards the tomb raider on a calm pace with his hands clasped behind his back. Lara saw Powell wasn't alone, Daniel was right behind him, holding one of Bryce's bugs, it was covered with blood.

That means they'd killed Bryce too and she was the only one left. Lara felt empty inside, the only three persons she cared for on this planet were taken away from her in what no doubt was a matter of seconds. Powell wants to make her suffer before he kills her. Well she might be in pain, but Lara wouldn't be herself to just give up without a fight.

"Good morning Lara." Powell said.

Lara ignored him and crawled back on her feet. She kept her cold eyes locked on the maniac, carefully watching every move he made.

"Aren't you happy to see me?"

"You killed Alex, you killed Hillary, you killed Bryce," Lara folded her arms. "No I am certainly not happy to see you, but I am telling you things you already know."

Powell started laughing.

"Yes you are telling me things I already know, but it always does me good to hear you are suffering." He said. "By the way, you never told me you were pregnant."

Everything inside of the tomb raider froze, how could he know she's pregnant? Well no time to dwell on it, he was trying to distract her, to break her soul. Lara would not let that happen, she has to think of a way to get those rings of his finger, but how? It was impossible to just grab his hand and pull them of, he would never allow that to happen.

The only thing she can think of is cutting of his hand, it will probably be the only solution. But she has nothing with her to cut it of and there is nothing close enough to try and reach for.

"Too bad the little child will never get to know his father."

Lara raised her eyebrow. "I don't think the child will live at all, aren't you planning to kill me?" she said.

Powell shrugged "perhaps, I could decide to allow you to have this child and kill you afterwards."

Lara shrugged "And have you raise my child? I'd rather die." She said.

"Yes I know, and that's why it's best to kill you."

Powell threw his hand forward, again an invisible force threw the tomb raider backwards, this time she crashed into a few vases. Lara was stunned for a moment, and shakes her head to get her vision straight. She wanted to crawl back on her feet, but again she was thrown backwards. Lara winced as she connected with another wall. When she could see clearly again, the hallway that leads to the garage came in her sight.

Without thinking, Lara lunged forward into the hallway and out of Powell's sight. He could easily have stopped her but Lara guessed he wanted to _toy_ a little more with her before he kills her.

The tomb raider hurried her way through the hall and hid herself behind the jeep at the end of the garage. Just when she did this, Lara realized that this was probably the most stupid thing she could do, he would find her eventually. With her back pressed against one of the tires Lara refused to have a peek. She didn't have to, she could already feel him coming closer.

It was not like her to run and hide, Lara never stepped aside from a fight. But everyone who was dear to her had died, brutally murdered by Powell, there was nothing else Lara could think of at the moment. No brilliant last second idea to get the rings and kill Powell, all that was in her head were the images of Hillary and Alex.

Suddenly the glass from the jeep was shattered in pieces. Lara covered her head to prevent the glass from landing in her face. She felt strong hands seize her from behind and throwing her backwards. Lara landed hard against another car, and her head landed against the side mirror. She was too dazed to even realize which car it was, not that it mattered.

Powell emerged in her sight, his hand grabbed her throat and were cutting of the air from her windpipe. The tomb raider gasped for air as Powell lifted her inches from the floor. This was it, this was going to be her end. Lara was hurt too much to think of an escape plan. There was nothing she could do, Powell was too strong.

Then, out of nowhere a gun was fired once. Blood spattered into Lara's face and at the same time she dropped to the floor. Immediately the tomb raider sucked in every bit of air she could. As her vision was getting straight her eyes landed on Powell's body, also lying on the floor. He had a large bullet hole in his stomach. Someone had shot him, but who?

Lara felt someone grabbing her shoulder, she looked up and to her own surprise she saw Bryce standing before her, he had Hillary's shotgun in his hand and smiled at her.

"Lara are you alright?" he asked her.

The tomb raider looked up and down Bryce's body, he had bruises and cuts everywhere.

"You ask me if I'm alright, have you looked in the mirror yet?" Lara said.

"Yes I know, horrible isn't it? Powell burned my trailer and thought I was still in it. Fortunately I awoke just in time to escape through the hatch that's hidden under my bed."

"You have a secret hatch in that old trailer?"

"That's necessary when living with someone like you." Bryce joked. "But here, take this knife and get those rings from Powell he's not dead, I only managed to buy us some time."

They both looked at Powell, or at least where they saw him last, he was gone and there was no sign of him anymore.

"Bugger," Lara said "what about Daniel?"

"Who?" Bryce said.

And before they saw him coming Daniel appeared out of nowhere. It went too fast for Lara to see it happen. Only after the knife was smashed in Bryce his back Lara managed to react.

"No!" she yelled and at the moment she smashed the knife Bryce had just given her straight in Daniel's throat.

Daniel gagged as Lara yanked the knife out of his throat. He started couching blood, but Lara pushed him back and paid all her attention to Bryce.

"Bryce, Bryce…"

He was breathing heavily and tried to say something to Lara, but Lara placed her finger on his lips.

"Ssh, be quiet everything is going to be just fine."

Bryce pusher her hand away "Lara you…you can use the white…white…ring…" then he collapsed to the floor and let out his final breath.

Lara could have cried if Bryce didn't mention those last words. The white ring, it has the power to heal, if she managed to get the rings away from Powell, she can use the white one to heal Alex, Hillary and Bryce before she destroys those rings.

The tomb raider gathered her courage and reached for the shotgun, she walked out of the garage and tried to find Powell, although she was certain he had already found her. Indeed he had, Powell was waiting for her in the living room, his arms folded and a wick smile from ear to ear. He looked at the shotgun Lara was carrying.

"What are you going to do with that Lara? Shoot me?"

Lara on her turn smiled too.

"Something like that." She said.

"I can't die Lara, Bryce shot me right in my stomach but look now."

He spread his arms and showed the place where he had been shot, it was clean there wasn't even a scar.

Lara aimed the shotgun at his heart to distract him "it might not kill you, but it gives me just enough time…" then Lara aimed the gun at his left hand and fired.

It was too late for Powell to react. The strong force of the shotgun threw his arm back and left him without a hand. He didn't feel a thing of it but realized what Lara was planning to do. How strange it may sound, Powell looked for his hand and tried to get his rings back. But as Lara walked closer she shot him again, this time right in his stomach. Powell collapsed on the floor, Lara shot him again, and again until she was out of bullets.

She was inches away from him now and noticed the white ring was still on his right hand, the ring to heal. Powell noticed this too and wanted to move his hand to his injuries to heal himself, however, Lara stopped him by putting her foot with great force on his hand, she could hear Powell grunt in pain and then it turned into laughter.

"You are a true Croft…" he managed to say through all the pain. "Only your father failed to stop me, unfortunately it seems you won't."

Lara ignored him and kneeled down. She removed her foot from his hand and yanked the white ring from his finger. Then she stood up again and took a few paces back.

"I did it once, I'll do it again, only this time I'll make sure you stay dead." Lara said angry.

She looked over his body, blood was everywhere, there was no doubt he would die from these injuries, but Lara didn't have the patience nor the will to wait for it. She lifted the knife she still had in her hands and looked at it.

"Don't do things you'll regret later on." Powell said.

Lara narrowed her eyes at him "That's why you have to die." She said and without warning she threw the knife at his throat.

Powell gasped for air, he looked Lara in the eyes and tried to sit up. Halfway he collapsed to the floor and let out his final breath.

* * *

"Ooh, you know he dead…" Chris Tucker said that in Rush hour, I like the quote. Anyway I hope you enjoyed it, one more chappie to go and then the story is finished. 


	12. Josh

Darlian, don't worry Powell is dead for sure, he will not come back again, well at least not in this story :). Here is the last chapter, hope you enjoy it.

Chianna, it didn't take long this time did it? Don't worry, this story has an happy ending :), something like, and they lived happily ever after….enjoy!

Faith, Good to hear you will not die until I stop writing, although you put a heavy burden on my shoulders now. I can't be responsible for ur death so I just have to keep writing for the rest of my life….anyway, enjoy the final chapter.

* * *

**Chapter twelve, Josh.**

Lara had to cover her eyes as the bright emerged from the ring around her finger. She couldn't see what it was doing to her three friends who were lying on the floor in front of her. The tomb raider collapsed on her knees as the ring was taking a lot of her energy. Fortunately the light faded, Lara's eyes landed on her three friends. The blood was gone, their wounds were gone. But nothing happened, they didn't move and it didn't seem that any of the men were breathing.

Then suddenly Alex jerked up gasping for breath. He startled the tomb raider and she let out a yelp of surprise, it took her a few moments before she realized what happened.

"Alex?" Lara asked carefully.

The American was moving his hands over his chest, the last thing he could remember was that Powell killed him. He looked at Lara with confused eyes.

"Lara?" he asked back.

Lara jumped into his arms and wrapped her arms firmly around his waist, still not entirely believing that the man she loves is alive again. It took Alex quite some effort to pull her back.

"Lara, what happened," he said confused "I don't think I understand."

Lara waved around with her hand to show him the ring.

"I used the white ring to bring you back to life."

Alex rubbed the back of his head.

"The white ring? Wait a second,-"

Alex was cut of when the other two men started to wake up and received the same welcome from Lara as he had only a few seconds ago.

"You did it Lara, you managed to get the white ring!" Bryce yelled as he was still wrapped in Lara's arms, just like Hillary.

"Eh, Lara…" Hillary said "You can let go now, I think I'm a little bit confused."

"Yes, sorry Hilly, I'm a just happy to see all of you alive again." She said and placed a soft kiss on the butler's cheek. "Let me explain to you what happened."

It took Lara fifteen minutes to make the men understand what had happened and how she managed to defeat Powell. After that they had destroyed the rings and a week later Lara and Alex returned to the monastery to return the box to the monks. The monks had been grateful to her and had offered her a small amount of gold. Lara off course had declined it and managed to convince them that they need it much more then she does.

The monks thanked her once again and Lara and Alex returned to England. On their way back to England, Shugrave had found out Alex had made Lara pregnant and warned the American that if he would break Lara's heart once more he would take Alex to the highest building of England and throw him down but not before he had broken all of Alex his bones.

"The fall might do the same, but this way it's more painful." He had said.

Alex never had been comfortable around Shugrave but after these words the yank hadn't said a word during the entire flight home, much to Lara's amusement. Back in England Lara thanked Shugrave for another favor and offered to buy him dinner once he has time. He accepted it, but knowing that Shugrave never has time and never makes time for dinner Lara knew it would never come to it.

She watched the helicopter take off and then went back to the manor, it seemed Alex had already gone inside. She couldn't blame him, Shugrave always makes him uncomfortable.

The door flew open and Hillary emerged in her sight.

"Welcome back Lara, come Bryce and I were playing a game of scrabble, you should join us."

Without warning he dragged Lara into the manor and guided her to the living room.

"Hillary, it's very nice of you to invite me for a game of scrabble that you and Bryce normally never do, but I'm busy, perhaps another time?" the tomb raider tried to talk herself out of the situation.

But Hillary already put her in a chair.

"Now stay right there, Bryce could you help me with the tea." The butler asked Bryce.

"Sure thing Hillary." The tech said and followed Hillary into the kitchen.

Lara sighed, but noticed Alex was sitting on the other side of the table.

"He dragged you into this too huh?" Alex said wearing a smile on his face.

"It's a little strange, Bryce and Hillary never play scrabble together, or any other game." Lara said.

Alex threw his hands up, telling the tomb raider he didn't understand either. At the same time his eyes landed on the table, to the scrabble board. Lara looked down too still thinking this was all very strange. Then, all the sudden when her eyes landed on the scrabble board, Lara froze. Her eyes widened in surprise, the words on the board overwhelmed the tomb raider.

_Will you marry me?_

For about a minute Lara just kept staring at the words, making Alex very nervous. Lara didn't even notice Bryce and Hillary were peeking around the corner desperately waiting for Lara to answer the question. Then finally Lara saw the letters that were lying in front of her. She had to options, make the word yes, or make the word no.

Lara looked at Alex, who was almost exploding from the nerves. Lara smiled, she had made her decision and created the word yes.

Immediately Alex jumped up and threw himself into Lara's arms.

"You said yes!" he yelled in her ear.

"I know I did Alex, you don't have to yell in my ear to remind me about the decision I made."

Hillary and Bryce entered the room, they immediately received the same celebration.

"She said yes!" he yelled again.

Lara smiled and stood up.

"So, you all plotted this together?" Lara asked.

"Yes we did." Bryce replied.

Lara frowned "I never thought the three of you would work together." She said.

Hillary smiled "It was for a good cause."

"Yes it was…" Alex said as he walked back to Lara and started kissing her.

They didn't get much time to kiss though, Hillary cleared his throat to get their attention.

"Excuse me, if you want to celebrate, please go upstairs." He said.

They stopped and locked their eyes on the butler.

"You're right," Alex said and turned his head to Lara. "Let's go upstairs." He said.

"Wonderful idea." Lara replied and the couple made their way to their room.

Bryce pulled up an ugly face.

"Oh, disgusting really, I'd prefer not to know what these two are going to do, so if you'll excuse me Hillary, I think I'll fetch up Simon."

Hillary smiled as he watched Lara and Alex fade from his sight. Lara was finally getting along with the American. And although she had told Hillary many times that she never loved Alex and would never forgive him for what he had done to her, Hillary always believed that they will come back together. Their engagement and Lara's pregnancy proved that what he thought was right.

* * *

**For about 8 months later**

Bryce and Hillary had been in the hall of the hospital for over an hour now. Lara and Alex were in the delivery room. Every minute they heard Lara yelling at the doctor.

"I am bloody pushing you bloody doctor." Or "You say push one more time, I'll put a bullet in your head." Were only a few examples of Lara's screams.

Both Hillary and Bryce found this rather amusing. Lara had known much pain, but this pain is completely different, and she's been in it for over more then an hour.

"Pour doctor, I wouldn't want to be in his shoes." Bryce said and took another sip from his coffee.

"Yes, pour fellow," then Hillary frowned "Hold on a second, that's not the screaming of Lara, that's-"

The door to the delivery room flew open.

"A boy, it's a boy!" it was Alex "I have a son, I'm a father."

"I guess congratulation is in order." Hillary said.

"Yes yank, congratulations." Bryce said too.

"Thank you so much!" Alex said and immediately went back into the delivery room.

"Well that was a short but strong moment," Bryce said "But I guess that means we have a nephew."

Hillary smiled "Yes it does Bryce, and I cant wait to see the little boy."

They only had to wait until the next day to see Lara and the baby, it was a beautiful little boy, with the blue eyes of his father. But his hair was a little reddish.

"So how are you feeling Lara?" Hillary asked.

"Tired, but other then that I'm fine." The tomb raider replied.

"Well, I guess the doctor will be tired too." Bryce said.

Lara laughed "I wasn't really nice to him, was I?" she asked.

Bryce nodded "I'm surprised he managed to stay during the entire delivery, I would have skipped out after you threatened to shoot me." He said.

"I threatened to kill him?" Lara asked confused.

"Absolutely." Alex replied.

"Oh dear, poor doctor." Lara said, feeling a little guilty.

"Don't bother Lady West." The doctor said as he just walked into the room. "I was happy to deliver your baby. I've run a few more tests and I think you and…eh…did you name him yet?"

Lara and Alex looked at each other, they had made up the perfect name for their son.

"Yes, his name is Joshua Richard Alexander West, but it think it will be easier for you when you call him Josh."

"I think it will be yes, in that case you and Josh can go home tomorrow Lady West."

"That's good new doctor, thank you."

"Your welcome, now if you'll excuse me, I have another mother that's ready to give birth." The doctor said and left the room.

"Well, I better put a finishing touch to the baby room then." Alex said.

"I think we should all go home and allow Lara to get some rest." Hillary said as he saw Lara looked very tired.

They all said goodbye to Lara and were ready to leave, but Lara grabbed Hillary by his arm and pulled him back.

"Thank you Hilly, for always being there for me."

Hillary leaned forward and placed a small kiss on Lara's cheek.

"It's part of the job I'd love to do." He said and followed the other men out of the room.

Lara sighed, she had never been so happy before. She was married to Alex, the most important man in her life, although, Josh would give great competition. The birth of her son makes Lara doubt about her future. Should she give up on tomb raiding, it's dangerous work and she could risk the life of her son with it.

But giving up tomb raiding also means the end of her life, tomb raiding is what she likes to do most, just as Alex. It will not be easy to live without it. But time will tell, it is not something she should dwell on now. Lara knew she had to get some rest, tomorrow she and Josh can go home and she can begin a completely new adventure.

* * *

Well that's it, I finished another story, hope you liked it! And perhaps I will make another sequel. 


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